University of New Orleans University of New Orleans

ScholarWorks@UNO ScholarWorks@UNO

Wavelength Midlo Center for New Orleans Studies

8-1985

Wavelength (August 1985) Wavelength (August 1985)

Connie Atkinson University of New Orleans

Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uno.edu/wavelength

Recommended Citation Recommended Citation Wavelength (August 1985) 58 https://scholarworks.uno.edu/wavelength/73

This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Midlo Center for New Orleans Studies at ScholarWorks@UNO. It has been accepted for inclusion in Wavelength by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UNO. For more information, please contact scholarworks@uno.edu.

• •

NEW ORLEANS MUSIC MAGAZINE

THE STORY OF A REBEL AND HIS BIKE.

PEE·WEE HERMAN

Pee-wee~ 116 AD~etnlltle

An ASPEN FILM SOCIETY I ROBERT SHAPIRO Production PEE-WEE HERMAN • PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE arstarring ELIZABETH DAILY • MARK HOLlON • DIANE SALINGER· JUDD OMEN music composed by DANNY ELFMAN

executive producer WILLIAM E. McEUEN written by PHIL HARTMAN & PAUL REUBENS & MICHAEL VARHOL produced by ROBERT SHAPIRO and RICHARD GILBERT ABRAMSON directed by TIM BURTON

[l]lr-="DOLBV~STERE0==""11® FROM WARNER BROS. ~ A WARNER COMMUNICATIONS COM PANY IPGIP'MEifTALGtBIUSYRSTEI-.1 lllloiEL£CTIDT!tPTIIU w C) ... sw ..... -..t ... AIIItloht•"-'-~~'""-'""YNOT•turr-.E-~®

The Adventure Begins Friday August 9th at a Theatre Near You.

~ (

r. r. 4 I I I l

ISSUE NO. 58 • AUGUST 1985

wl'm not sure. but I'm almost positive. that all music came from New Orleans ...

Ernie K-Doe, 1979

Features Jazz Fest Cutbacks . .. .... ....... ,..18 R.L. Burnside ............ .... ... . 21 Paris ............................ 23 History of Louisiana ............... 24

Columns August News ... .. ................ .4 It's AI/ Music ...................... 6 New Bands ......... . .............. 8 Caribbean.' .. .................... . 10 Film .... . ... .. ................. . 12 Rare Records .................... . 14 Video ...... .. ........ ... ....... . 14 Reviews .... ..... .......... . ...... 16 August Listings ..... ... ........ .. . 30 Classifieds .... . ........ .. ...•. . .. 33 Last Page ....................... . 34

Cover by Kevin Combs

.Mmlbzrot

NeiWC:Sfk P1bti1JM-r, Nauman S. Scott. Ultor, Connie Atkinson. Seaior Editor, Bunny Man~!<'*>. Offlct Monoatr, Diona Ro .. nb<ra. 'l)pt/ Layoul, DaluZJtnnt Ent<r· pri$t>, Jon N""'hn. Dlslrlbulloa, Gtnt Scanomuuo, Joe Torczon. C...lrlbuton, Mark Bmaham, Carlos Boll, Gary Boulard, Lou Btrnry, R.U. Eddy, Macon Fry, Carol Gniady, 'llld Jonts, Arlhur Ntad, Jon N""'lin, Ric Ohvier, 01ana ROltn· btra. Kalamu ya Salaam, Shepard Samuels, Gent Scaramuuo, Hammond Scou, Almost Slim, Kt11h 'IWIIchtll, Nancy Weldon, William D. Whnt. lli>wltngth is published monthly '" New Orleans. ll:ltphon<: (504) 895·2342. Mail sub•cnptions, addrtn chanaes 10 Wavelt/lgth, P.O. Box 15667, New Orleans, LA 70175. Subscnphon rat< IS $12 ptr year. Fo~ian S20 ptr year (sur· ra,-.). Fust class subscnptions, $28 per year (domtstic and Canada). AO airmail Ill< II S40 per year (0Vtr$tl$). The tntirt contents or Wavelength a~ copyri&hltd Cl 1985 llilvtltnllh. Bad: !'sue' art a ... ·a•lablt by wnung co Back Js;\ue~. P.O. Box 15667, New Orleanl, LA 70175. &Qu<e or a hmntd supply, back i"uts •~ a,·ailablt for S4 ta<h. Pit&>< allow a r...,. wttks for proct,.ina and dtliVtrY of ordtn. New Sub>rib<n: Pkast allow up to"" 'Atek\ for receipt of fint i\sue due to our small, non-<"om­puterued )Ubscnp110n department , F-11n cu>IOmtn may pay by I.M.O. orthtck drawn on a U.S. bank. Btcau>< or aorbnan1 bank prO<:«s.na charats, -.e cannot accepc checks in Canadian dollars oc o1Mr rort•an currtncy, or ch«ks drawn on a (orti&n bank. Subscnbcn mu\t noury us Immediately or any chance or address. tr notification 1> not =<1'-.d, ma,anntu<ntto 1ncorr<C1 old add~ v.1ll not b< ~placed. U.S. customcn mu't include ZIP code.

#/ . I .NA-Y k/OT .BE 1?.6C.Of?[J (({JJ, f>U1111H<£ f'HE CR.t0/1 FOR.

514-9444

t!JSPIR. ttJb f-IlS GRfftiEST

SltLt ....

evrr<E~ RON's /tNICE GOY.

• • • r< '/JIV{)I(a JAU ''

. THe 011/0~(£ J' ltL£ Of COURSE.

VERY R:W oF HIS' CUS101AcRS IJR.t

fiWI}Rt 0 F !HE /MfORTIJNT RolE I MY IN

~-6VSUR!N&1HitT tli£i 6f.l

'1fR~IFIC OE~ AI 'RcCO!W RCi'I/S .. ..

·· · ·ANO 1/ow FOR. 1H£ 2NP JlcAR IN ARDW, !l's

'RtCOR.V RON's

~/.oFF r IJIVOPl£ I

~AlL.

~ {' ~ . ,.IN l='lfC~ ~ w.. fiE :S S U( H It NtC E "" GU'I1NA-1 HtU GIIJE YoU ?'OJ ti/EN 'fHO ~ YOIJ'RE NO! IHS WIFE ...

~ - ~ ~ ~ ~k-~.

Tickets for Storyville special events available at Record Ron's

E DGE THE ADVANTAGES OF RECORDING AT SEA-SAINT:

Harrison 3232 32 input console Studer 24 track tape machine (30115 ips) MCI 24 track tape machine

BPPBBrlng at: AUGIESDELAGO

Sea-Saint

Two Eventide Harmonizers Three Digital delays, from Lexicon & U rei Two Plate Reverbs & Lexicon Digital Reverbs

RECORDING STUDIO, INC New Orleans, LA 70112

AND ALL FOR ONLY $70PERHOUR

( 504) 949-8386

AUGUST 1985/WAVELENGTH 3

Mason Runner Signs With CBS After months of speculation,

negotiations and interrogations, Mason Ruffner has signed a record­ing deal with the mighty CBS record label. Accordi~g to Ruffner, the contract calls for one album, and an option on at least two more.

"The guy who· really got the ball rolling was John Birge:• said Ruf­fner, pausing while thumbing through a Rolls Royce catalog. "He's really not an A&R person, he works in CBS' accounting depart­ment. A guy who had had some hits with them a few years back, Steve Forbert, had told him about me.

"Birge was down here in March on vacation and stopped by the Absinthe Bar to see us. He said he liked what he heard, and asked me to send him a demo tape. I didn't even have one at the time but I put a tape together ir. about a week.

"They really must have liked it because they started calling me just about every day. :The Monday after the Jazz Fest was when tQ.ey told me we had a deal, but I didn't sign anything until the other day [July 12] because I didn't have a manager or a lawyer:

''A guy named Mike Belkin from

4 WAVELENGTIUMJGUST 1115 .

Rochester handled the contract negotiations; he called me after he heard about the CBS deal. He's handled some rock bands before like Joe Walsh and Doug Sahm. It took a long time to finalize the details - I mean the contract is 39 pages long. We had to get the budget worked out and find a pro­ducer and choose a recording stu-di " 0.

Ex-rock 'n' roller Rick Derringer (his current production credits include "Like a Surgeon" by Weird AI Yanchovich) will oversee the session which will be recorded in Bogalusa at Studio In The Country.

"I'm hoping that we can finish up in less than two weeks:• added Ruffner. ''I've never cut an album before so I don't completely know everything about it. We might add a piano track to a few numbers. I'd like to use Katie Webster maybe when we're up in New York [both Ruffner and the Texas Boogie Queen will be appearing at the Lone Star this month]:'

According to Ruffner, the as-yet untitled album (it was being recorded in late July and early August) should be on the shelves by the end of the year. When the recording is finished Ruffner hopes to take things easier before return­ing to his regular New Orleans haunts. -Almost SUm

Publications .,.MIX IS AN INVALUABLE IDOL to anyone who records music on a regular basis. Be you a musician, engineer or fan, Mix tills you in on technical and artistic sides of audio, video and sound reinforcement. Each month Mix has a different listing, such as Recording Studios of the Northwest. Or Northeast, Southeast, etc. Mix ads keep you up on the latest gear, almost too much information to digest. A must for studios and studio oriented musiciaDS; Write to Mix magazine, 2608 Ninth St., Berkeley, CA 95710 .

.,.CLOWN-THEATRE GAZETTE IS DEDICATED 10 THE PROPOSITION that clowns are actors too, and should be taken seriously, except when they are working, at which time you should laugh. Published by If Every Fool, Inc., Clown-Theatre Gazette is atwo-page newsletter informing clowns and other interested parties of the activities and goings-on and doings of other clowns. Write to Clown-Theatre Gazette, Aaron Watkins, editor, c/o Cultural Council Foundation, 625 Broadway, NY, NY 10012 . .,.RIVER BEND REPORTER IS A PRO-NUKE NEWSLETTER published by the Public Affairs Department of Gulf States Utilities in St. Francisville. Articles concern the River Bend nuclear facility as well as upbeat items showing goodwill toward the nuclear industry. Write to Bill Benedetto, Dept. of Public Affairs, Gulf States Utilities, St. Francisville, LA. I'm sure they would love to hear some opposing points of view, heh heh .

... CAN ANYONE BE OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THE FUTUREP. Adventists think they can. SIGNS OF THE TIMES is the voice of the Seventh Day Adventists. Articles cover subjects such as: How can we handle our fears? The word that turned the world upside down (agape), and, to stay almost current, Fitness and the Family. To get Signs of the Times and hundreds of other pieces of religious junk mail (the mailing lists you'll get on with this one ... oy!), write to P.O. Box 7000, Boise, ID 83707. Only $6.50 for 12 filled issues! -Mark Bingham

Happy Tails To You· The next time you buy a bag of

crawfish tails, check the label. After two strikes against the craw­fish dealers, fishermen started the Louisiana Crawfish Producers Association, out of which came the Acadiana Fisherman's Co-op. To become a member, fishermen paid a $2,000 entry fee which helped pay to set up the Co-op's own process­ing plant in Henderson. Fishermen bring crawfish to the Co-op where the mud bugs are either boiled right away or put into a cooler. The cool­ers hold 15,000 pounds of live craw­fish. After boiling, the crawfish are cooled and peeled. A good peeler can go through a 50-pound sack in

CL EANEO. co II ni1WFISH TAILS

'

-~

-w~

an hour, roughly nine pounds of meat. The peelers are paid by the pound.

Anyone can sell crawfish to the Co-op. The Co-op is selling bait and nets at the lowest price in the area. The Co-op's goal is stabiliza­tion of crawfish prices. With profits divided evenly amongst members, the Co-op is looking to avoid the typical situation where the fisher­man sells to a buyer for 25-30 cents a pound and the buyer drives down the road and sells the same crawfish for up to a dollar a pound.

The Co-op hopes to get a larger boiler, more peeling stations, a freezer for bait fish and a few refrigerator trucks. Support the Co­op. The fishermen are the lowest paid/hardest working people in the crawfish production chain. Ask your grocer for Acadiana Fisher­man's Co-op cleaned crawfish tails.

-Mark Bingham

p!

lllllllf ,.110 D!Y"..'!~,.o••• t $1 ~ • • • • , !?"_. -· ~'"""""' bit of act1on as well, pnmanly m

Toot Toot Enters Country Charts, European Market Just when you think you've heard

it all, yet another amazing chap­ter in the Rock in' Sidney/ "My Toot Toot" chronical unfolds. The latest chapter has Mr. Simien's zydeco opus fighting it out for space in the national country charts with the likes of Tom T. Hall, Mel Tillis, Ricky Skaggs and Lacy J. Dalton, no Jess.

After Sidney's version began crossing over to the country market in Houston and New Orleans, Epic leased it for a big national push. Besides the single, they also plan to release a 12" EP containing the hit and three other tunes to boot. The song debuted at the stratospheric spot of number 63 in the June 22 Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, and as of July 6 it ranks number 40 with a bullet. Interest­ingly enough, the Epic single credits the "Crazy Cajun" Huey P. Meaux as an additional producer, in obvi­ous appreciation for landing the deal with Epic .

Floyd Soileau, who instigated this silliness, understandably couldn't be happier. Besides the national sales being chalked up, the Epic single has found renewed sales interest in South Louisiana, not for "My Toot Toot'' but for the flip side, "Jalapeno Lena" ("My Zydeco Shoes" was on the original Maison de Soul B side), and is sell­ing briskly.

As for the beaucoup cover ver­sions, the Jean Knight rendition at present has spent ten weeks in the Hot 100 (Pop). Although it is slowly descending (it also made a brief three-week appearance in the Black singles chart), it peaked in the mid­dle of the charts, far exceeding the performance of any local single this decade. A Jean Knight LP has also just hit the racks.

Meanwhile, Denise LaSalle's cover of a cover has creat~----__.

the Black charts here in America. The Malaco treatment of "My Tu Tu" (sic) peaked in the 70s during its five-week chart appearance, outpacing the Jean Knight record. Also, since adding "My TuTu" to the Love Talkin' album, Malaco has been able to slip it into the lower reaches of the Black LP charts (Currently it ranks Number 74 and has spent four weeks in the charts). Interestingly, the LaSalle/ Malaco LP sports a bright orange sticker proclaiming "contains the hit 'My TuTu:"

But the "Toot Toot" saga has gone well beyond the shores of America. In June aJI three versions were released in England, creating a proverbial Toot Toot controversy, in print and over the airwaves. Lon­don music publication The New Musical Express devoted a page to the review / legend of all three sin­gles, concluding "You'll probably hear the LaSalle and Knight inter­pretations more often when you're out 'n' about, but Rockin' Sidney is clearly the match if you're consider­ing buying any of them:•

John Broven also reports (now this guy could be biased, mind you) that all three versions were aired over the BBC and a phone-in poll was held in which our man from Lake Charles won by the length of Bayou Lafourche.

However, at present, the Denise LaSalle treatment is winning out, recently jumping into the British charts at Number 36. Ironically, LaSalle's record is being distributed by Epic in Europe (remember Epic distributes Rockin' Sidney in America!) who got the jump on the competition by a week or so and who have England's most powerful promotion and marketing depart­ments. LaSalle also plans to tour England this month. Ms. Knight's single ("dance club production ... big walloping drums and full­throated vocal:' says the N.M.E.) is being hawked by the likewise power­ful Atlantic firm.

Rockin' Sidney meanwhile is being handled by Ace/E.M.l. but the record has been pressed on the Jin label, copying Soileau's old label down to the "always in the spotlight" motto! (When will this madness cease!)

The song has also crossed the English Channel into France, but with yet a new runner in the race, Jimmy C. Newman. Newman waxed a French version of the song a few months back specifically for Europe where he sells heavily. How­ever at present Sidney looks like he may be giving him a run for his !'argent as Radio Luxembourg has started airing his version.

-Almost Slim

Recording News .,..ABOUT FIFTY NEW ORLEANS MUSICIANS CHOSE SEA-SAINT STUDIO to say "N.O. to hunger.• Pete Fountain, Irma Thomas, Doug Kershaw, Clarence "Frogman" Henry, Ronnie Kole and many others performed "Give Today For Tomorrow" under the directio.n of Al.len Toussaint with proceeds to go to the hungry and homeless m the c1ty and abroad. Also at Sea-Saint, Jean Knight finished recording her newest album My Toot Toot soon to be released on the Mirage/ Atlantic label. Along with the hit single, the album will feature a revamped cover of her 1971 hit, "Mr. Big Stuff!' Lady BJ recorded a song for an RTA commercial that is based on a popular hit song. (Maybe "What's a Bus Got To Do With It" or "Everybody Wants To Ride The Bus:') .,..OVER AT STUDIO SOLO, IRMA THOMAS, Johnrly Adams and Marcia Ball are each recording albums for Rounder Records. Solomon Burke began recording two weeks ago, and ex-Cold vocalist Barbara Menendez is finishing some solo recordings for a possible EP. .,..AT STUDIO IN THE COUNTRY, OUT IN Boogie-lusa, King "Groove Me" Floyd finished a new album. Ex-Backbeat Paul Sanchez has been cutting a few numbers, and Bob Vernon's production of Fats Domino and Doug Kershaw's version of "My Toot Toot" was mixed and is now ready for release. .,..ULTRASONIC STUDIO HAS BEEN THE SITE of the Pfister Sisters' first

album-making. Cousin Joe, a 78-year-old pianist, is making an album produced by John Berthelot. A contemporary of Professor Longhair, Cousin Joe has toured Europe with Rolling Stone drummer Charlie Watts. Luther Kent and 'frick Bag are recording with Bubby Valentino producing. .,..AT COMPOSERS STUDIO, FUSIONISTS SCOTT GOUDEAU, with Tony Dagradi, Phil Parnell, Larry Seiberth and Dale Anthony are each cutting albums for Broken Records. Bourre has finished working on their new album. .,..THE LATEST AT PACE STUDIOS FINDS the Olympia Brass Band's new album ready for pressing. Their "45" should be out now. Timothea has been recording, with Earl King and Art Neville splitting producing chores. !he Socials, The Models and True Faith are making demos. Perhaps the b1g story is that Channel 4 news anchor Sally Ann Roberts has recorded an inspirational single entitled "Life is Live:• .,..AT BLUE STREAK STUDIOS IN MID-CITY, Irma's son James Thomas has been putting some tracks down, and Ziggy Modeliste is recording a demo with fellow Meter-man George Porter.

In other recording news, the Recording Studio Association of New Orleans has been organized with the help of veteran Cosimo Matassa. They meet at Jaegers Seafood once a month, eat shrimp, talk technical talk and now have a unified voice in Chamber of Commerce matters.

-St. George Bryan

Glenn, Crayton Deaths Reported Sadly we must report the deaths

of two great blues musicians, Lloyd Glenn and Pee Wee Crayton.

Lloyd Glenn, known to have influenced Professor Longhair's playing, was known for his fine piano work with the likes of Joe Turner, T-Bone Walker and Lowell Fulsom, as well as his own fine recordings. Born on November 21, 1909, in San Antonio, Texas, he began playing at the age of three. During the 1930s he played with Tee Holder's Orchestra, Boots and His Buddies. and Don Albert's Orches­tra. It was with Albert that Glenn made his first recordings. The year 1947 saw him joining T-Bone Walk­er's unit, and it is Glenn who pro­vided the fine accompaniment on Walker's hit "Stormy MondaY,' Glenn began making his own records for the Downbeat and Alad­din labels in the early Fifties, scor­ing hits with "Old Time Shuffler" and "Chick-a-Boo:• During the Sixties and Seventies he remained busy doing session work with vari-

ous R&B bands and occasionally on his own. His latest release, "Blue Ivories" on Stockholm records, combined new material with vin­tage sides from Downbeat. Last year he appeared in New Orleans at the Jazz Festival.

Guitarist Connie "Pee Wee" Crayton was born December 18, 1914, in Liberty Hill, Texas. A col­orful guitarist, he came out of the Texas school of guitar which also produced T-Bone Walker. His first hit was "Blues After Hours" for the Modern Label in 1949. He toured nationally during most of the Fif­ties and continued to record for Modem and Imperial. He moved to Los Angeles in 1960, where he con­tinued to record and perform sporatically.

His most recent con­temporary albums \•ere recorded for Vanguard and Murray Brothers while European reissue labels by Blues Boy, Charly and Ace repack­aged his vintage recordings.

- Almost Slim

AUGUST 1985/WAVELENGTH 5

THE WORLD'S MOST REQUESTED MUSICAL EQUIPMENT

CAN BE FOUND ... AND AT GREAT PRICES

MESA BOOGIE AMPLI FIERS • KRAMER GUI TARS • MARSHALL A MPLIFIERS • OCTAVE PLA TEAU MIDI GUITAR • PEAV EY ELECTRONICS • ROLA NO • EMERALD DIGITAL ELECTR ONIC DRUMS • KORG • IBANEZ GUITARS & PROCESSORS • TA MA ELECTRONIC & ACOUSTIC DRUMS • SEYMOUR DUNCAN • SIMMO NS ElECTRONIC DRUMS • OVATION GUI1ARS • RANDALL AMPLIFIERS • DOD SIGNAL PROCESSORS • PEARL DR

UMS • AKAI KEYBOARDS • ADA SIG NAL PROCESSORS•FOSTEXRE

CORDING EQUIPMENT • DBX SIGNAL PROCESSORS • BOSS

PRODUCTS • SHURE MICRO PHONES • AUDIO TECHNICA

MICROPHONES • BOSE LOUD SPEA KER SYSTEMS • AKG

MICROPHONES • E.U. LOUDSPEAKERS &

MICROPHONES AND MORE AND MORE

New Orleans, LA

(504)482-7894

FINANCING AVAILABLE

"For the Professional Service You Deserve" ·

a WAVELENGTH/AUGUST 1185

This Is Only A Test Read each statement carefully. Check the appropriate box.

There are no right or wrong answers.

Learning something, even at the expense o f being very wrong or very stupid, is almost always worth it. No matter

what anyone says, the whole world is not watching and even if the who le world was watching, how long could you keep their attention? There's always something else to do. And someone else to watch.

Journalisls are big on creating the news, especially in the entertain­ment area. Once a star is created or a controversy fueled, journalists must march off to mvent the news else­where. That's how it works. Hot today, snot tomorrow. Knowing this, one need not complain about the unfairness of the media. There was a popular red neck logan in the Sixties: "If you don't like police, next time you're in trouble call a hip­pie!' In this day and age we might say: "If you don't like the media, call the media!'

I

.. .....

The rules of journalism are so much philosophical spaghetti. Thb­loid editors allow self-indulgence up to the limits of libel. Ethical jour­nalists, or writers with too much to lose by rocking the boat, must play by the rules of Deep Background , Background, Off the Record and On the Record. Deep background requires you to reveal nothing of the source, but also, to corroborate the story with an independent source.

With background, the source is again not revealed, but no quotes can be used. If your soun:c will go off the record, you can usc quotes but no names. Things like, "a high ranking official at General Motors" or "a spokesman for NOPSI" are permissible. When someone ts on record, you can quote them by name, such as: "Governor Edwards admitted today, ' I enjoy being spanked with ice cold waffle irons by Swedish mi lkmaids who are bathing in crab boil~'

Unless you are covering a major political figure with scores of report­ers on the same trail, you have quite a bit of license. You can even make it all up. Since we are hard pressed to come up with any finite value judg­ments over the worth of dreams vs. reality, the morality of inventing the news is not even an issue. But media sensationalism alters o ur lives in subtle ways .

Contemporary Jazz from

New Orleans' Finest Musicians ~ c!!Ye</td ~ ~Jij~I'R

Scott Kevin Goudeau Available on Cassette Orzly

from local stores or order from Broken Records

5120 Perrier St. N. 0., La. 70115

11

·- ·-

I got sick last week. My symp­toms were: fever, headache, leth­argy; and aches. Most people would say I had the n~. But no, things are different now. Try going to a doctor with any sort of vague symptoms and the first thing the good doc wants to know is if you've been takin' it up the ol' coal shute. Yes, Aidsophobia is upon us. Now that LIFE has declared in bold print that no person is safe from AIDS, the next step will be Joan Collins dying of AIDS on a special live Dynasty. My flu is much better now.

Reliving Pop Psycteology of the Fifties ..• I can say, without apology, that there is no science that did not have an earlier expression as an art form. Today's most vital concern is physical space as it relates to the wel­fare of individuals and to the growth of populations. Conceptual revolu­tions, once slow to develop, now come at us with alarming regularity. We are in a constant cycle of grow­ing up intellectually before returning to conceptual infancy. Very little in this world "just happens:• We watch other cultures repeat our old mis­takes. We are aware of a compas­sionate systems revolution with synchronized issues and a goal of resolving value conflicts. Commit­ment follows an identification with values and goals, which can be defined as an increase in personal conceptual space. To act in a com­mitted fashion is to defend one's conceptual space.

!

Read each statement carefully . . Check the appropriate box. There are no right or wrong answers.

I. You dream a lot 2. You are happy-go­lucky 3. You are so concerned with the future that you ignore the present. 4. When you were a child, your playmates expected you to lead. 5. You often feel grouchy. 6. You often feel misera­ble for no reason. 7. You avoid arguing. 8. You're the kind of person who is always "on the move~· 9. You are sometimes up, sometimes down. 10. You begin projects and relationships with great enthusiasm.

Yes No

DC

0 0

0 0

DO

DO DO

0 0

D O

DO

Sigmund Freud was Vienna's favor­ite rock star. He developed a terrible drug habit. Then he publicly denounced cocaine. Alas, there were no Narconon meetings for him to attend. Freud related everything to sex. So does television. So ... spend­ing an afternoon reading Freud and watching MTVand VH-1 resulted in the following list.

I. The sick ego promises complete candor. 2. Even the smallest acts in life are political. There·is no correlation between informality and political content.

3. Crow's feet are as common as lin­gerie. Lingerie is on the way out. Misogyny is less blatant.

4. During the oral phase, sadistic impulses occur sporadically along with the appearance of teeth.

5. There are no talcum powder endorsements by fat bands.

6. Christine McVie looks like a Cab­bage Patch Kid.

7. Sexual life does not begin at puberty, but starts with plain mani­festations soon after birth.

8. Videos of terrible music are toler­able as kitsch.

9. Just as the id is directed exclu­sively to the obtaining of pleasure, so the ego is governed by consider­ations of safety.

10. Shag haircuts are still with us.

II. There will always be a steady supply of 20-year-olds willing to sac­rifice years of their lives to rock 'n' roll.

Turn it up to 11! 0

ONE MIIN. MO WOllEN ••• THIIOWN TtHimiEil IJfl

'"''"' FDfltEf IIPIOIID THEIR tornllOL ... TRIIPPED Ill II TOfltliD HEU DF Tllflll twirl Mlllllrl'···

LlllE Ef/Etlf/llDlN

flrf.

~~TURE CLUB PRESENTS SARTRE' s

Nf) I~XI'l, STARRING

K. Akers-Scott Kempe Kirkpatrick Robt. W. Moore

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS BY Peter Mars

DIRECTED BY Reuven Levi Proctor

TOWNHALL THEATRE 642 N. RAMPART ST. NEW ORLEANS

OPENS AUGUST 6 - 8:30 P.M. Performances: Aug. 7, 9, 12, 13, 14, 16, 19, 20, 21

Tickets $5; $10 for Benefit Performance - Reservations: 245-2086

rrs A RAGE ON THE STAGE IJUI' crs COOL INSIDE

----SPONSORED IN. PAR'T BY---

The French Quarter Wine Cellar 700 Rue Dauphine

Spwol With thu ad or uc~et nub

J aegermeister $13.99

AUGUST 1985/WAVELENGTH 7

:···· · '!'

Looking 80meward Young musicians of the local new music scene take ales­

son from British superstars, and turn to New Orleans for inspiration.

The young musicians of the "new music" scene here have been notorious fOf exacting outside influences while

neglecting their own local and regional roots. What has been hip in London, New York and Los Angeles becomes, a few years later, hip in New Orleans. It's happening in other cities too, of course - music videos and album-oriented radio have watered down the local brew across the country into a generic pop sound.

There is, however, a counter-cur­rent to this trend. From Austin to Athens a new generation of south­ern musicians and songwrit!!rS are responding to their heritage and environment. And though power pop acts are still the most successful in the new music clubs, more and more local musicians are looking closer to home for inspiration.

"Lots of people here haven't real­ized the heritage and cultural merit of New Orleans:' says Rick Cinai, songwriter and singer I guitarist for Reality Patio, the group that turned heads in late spring with the airplay "Empty Rooms;• their very good first release,·received on WTUL.

"My generation was whisked into the suburbs and denied the city's natural environment!'

Cinai moved back into the city, living by the river with two other band members, drummer Cary Bonnecaze and bassist Mike Wil­liams. Rounding out the band is Kevin Otto on keyboards.

The guys spend a lot of time on the streets, often looking for tran­sient labor. "The day-to-day of it keeps us on that creative edge;• says Cinai, smiling.

And it's from the streets that the band claims to draw inspiration ..

\ '/;~

"It's getting into your environment - the water we drink, the food we eat, the way .the sun shines down here!'

The ~"li~k'that results .ra,nges from folk to funk. The songwritirig · , is good and the band plays as if they like hearing the material being played - a rough, enthusiastic, fun garage band sound.

"We like it here;• says bassist Wil­liams. "We're not about to pack it up and go~to L.A., - and we're not about to sound like top 40 radio either. From the beginning we just wanted to ..sound like ourselves!'

For Paut Sanchez, it took a trip to New York to come to terms with playing i.t1 New Orleans. Sanchez, a familiar Of.QW local music scene, be(:ame discontented with himself and the problems of playing in New Orleans and made the trek up north.

"What I found out was that in all those other towns, musicians were sitting around complaining about their music scene - even in New York!'

Somewhere in New Jersey, he started listening again to Hank Wil­liams and other country artists he bad first heard at home as a child. Maybe ·he got homesick. He returned to New Orleans and began writing songs "that seemed most comfortable!' Though Sanchez makes no bones of any strong com­mitment to country music, his new material blends the twang of root sounds into an American pop sensi­tivity. The songs flow easily on well­constructed melodic lines that stay in your head.

Sanchez started out playing these new songs solo but opted for the upscale sound of a band for an upcoming recording session. Thus

Dash RipRock: "It's music we've heard all our lives.""'

8 WAVELENGTH/AUGUST 1985

Reality Patio: "We like 'it here; we're not about to

the tentative forming of The Pecca­dilloes, the working title of his very ,good back up band comprised of Genlld McCullum on guitar, Paul Clements on bass and Daemon Shea on drums. They sound good together, and work well with San­chez's material.

"This is the kind of music I've wanted to .play for years noW,' said ~c~ullu~~-.vT~ere's so. _much,. good md1geno . · s1c to borrow from. I can't oe • · t- -mor~ peaple aren'.r . doing it. I'(lttke to-ptaywitl} accoH , dionists, steel guitarists·_ 'have .a ~ · community of musicians offering different ideas but speaking the same language!'

"You hear about all these 'new' Southern rock bands but it's just that they're only now getting atten­tion;• says Fred LeBlanc, the drum­mer of Dash RipRock, a Baton Rouge-based band that New Orleans would love to call its own. Though Fred is a New Orleans boy, the other two members of the band are from Baton Rouge, where coun­try music is a more natural part of the environment.

Coming from a strict Baptist upbringing, Bill Davis, the guitar­ist/ singer who writes the bulk of the material, admits to "having a lot to rebel against!'

"My father loves country music,

''·

just as I do;• says Davis, "because it comes ta:>m the heart. Yet there is such a narrow-mindedness ~n the · South and in its music ... Faulkner put his finger on it, the South .can be a really awful place and still it has so much good going for it!' · ''

It is these ambivalent sentiments that are the core of Dash Rip Rock's music. In the song "LegacY,' Davis sings: ''I'm so tired of the legacy, the heritage I There's no way that I can. ever fill my daddy's shoes I Waking up inside a vacant town I is by no means an awakening to stir my .rest­less soul!'

The lyrics throughout all the · songs ring true - it's just plain, heartfelt talk.

The music behind the words i-ncorporates a wide variety of regional sounds with a modern blending of Sixties psychedelic rock. Fred LeBlanc keeps the rocking numbers at a blistering pace, while bassist Hoaky Hickel , who is the band member straying least from his country roots, carries the melodic ballads on the thoughtful bass line.

"We're just approaching country · music with a modern sensibility;•

says Davis. "It's music we've heard all our

lives;• adds LeBlanc. Playing the music of their region

is no homecoming for these guys -they've never really been away. 0

- ----·

Paul Sanchez and the Peccadilloes: "There's so much good •nn•n<:>nn•

music to borrow from."

On Tour ••• The three members of The Police are taking time off from their beat to indulge in solo adventures. The most visible of them is lead singer Sting who launches his world tour with a three-night stint in Tokyo on August 9 before moving on to San Diego and the West Coast. Sting, touring with a jazz band, will do in excess of 30 shows across the bigger cities of the South and Midwest before ending with a string of New York dates and a European tour.

Critic's Choice: lain Blair's Jazzed About Joan Armatrading Over the past decade, British singer/ songwriter Joan Annatrading has built herself a considerable reputation as a somewhat serious folk-rocker operating

on the fringes of mainstream pop. She's also acquired a fervent cult following with her polished repertoire of emotion­ally charged ballads. But if any of her fans turned up at this fine Universal Amphitheatre show expecting an hour's worth of acoustic numbers, they were in for a major surprise. Backed by an excel-

Warning: The Surgeon General Has Determined That Cigarette Smoking Is Dangerous to Your Health.

lent six-piece band that featured every­thing from synthesizers to horns and percussion, Annatrading quickly proved that while she is still a compelling and evocative balladeer, she can also rock with the best of them. Looking relaxed and singing with authority, Annatrad­ing pumped out such spirited numbers as "Bad Habits," exchanging her folkie seriousness for some flamboyant red shades and some new-wave dance steps. Other songs were layered with R&B and reggae textures, and all were imaginatively arranged and performed. But inevitably it was the old favorites and more vulnerable image that made the strongest connection, as in the sing­er's beautifully paced versions of 'The Weakness In Me" and "Show Some Emotion." An inspired show from an engaging artist who deserves to reach a wider audience.

Personal Favorites Roland Onabal, guitarist and vo­calist with Tears For Fears, lists his five favorite albums: 1) Fear Of Music -Talking Heads; 2) My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts- David Byrne/Brian Eno; 3) Tin Drum - Japan; 4) Still Crazy After All These Years - Paul Simon; 5) Rock Bottom - Robert Wyatt.

In The Studio ••• Currently at Crystal Studios in Hol­lywood is Weather Report' s Wayne Shorter, recording his solo album with Howard Siegel engineering and Jim McMahon assisting . . . At The Plant Studios in Sausalito, producer Ron Nev­ison has just completed the final mixes for Capitol Records' Heart LP. Huey Lewis &t The News are tracking and mix­ing a couple of tunes for the soundtrack of Steven Spielberg's forthcoming sum­mer movie release Back To The Future. Also at The Plant are Journey, who are cutting some basic tracks for their next album. The Starship are also at The Plant, tracking basics for a new RCA al• bum . . . The action at Amigo Studios in Hollywood includes the completion of X's newest project. Also, The Modem­aires are recording a two-day live-to­digital session of Glenn Miller's Greatest

Hits . . . The Blasters' singer/guitarist Phil Alvin will be ready to release his first solo album in late swruner on Slash Records entitled Unsung Songs. One of the sessions for the album took place in New Orleans, where Alvin recorded with the Dirty Dozen Brasa Band at Al­len Toussaint's famed Sea-Saint Studio. Another session for the LP was in New York Gty, where the Blaster teamed up with Sun Ra &t His Arkestra . . . At the Complex in West Los Angeles, Greg Landanyi was recently mixing a new General Public tune that will appear in HBO's new film Head Offia. Stanley Oarke was also working, putting the finishing touches on his CBS album project ... Sound Image in North Holly­wood has been busy with artist/pro­ducer Ron Keel who was in working with Blitzkrieg for Phoenix Records. Also, Steve Vai (Alcatrazz) was produc­ing tracks for Oa' Novo Music act Vixen . . . Mixmaster John JeUybean Benitez is currently at Sigma Sound in New York, producing Elizabeth Daly's debut al­bumforA&M.

TopOl The Charts

No. Albums Singles 1 Brothers In Arms "'Heaven"'

Dire Straits Bryan Adams (Warners) (A&M)

2 Be Yourself ~ To~t Eu mics (Sire) (RCA)

3 Shaken 'N' Stirred "'Sussudio"' Robert Plant Pllil Collins ~EsParanza/ tlantic)

(Atlantic)

4 The Dreams Of "'Eve~ Wants To The Blue Turtle Rule World"' Sti Teall For feaq (A:f.) (Mercury)

5 Brother, Where "'Raspberry Beret"' You Bound Prince& ~rtramp Tile Revolution ( M) (Warners)

6 So~s From The "'Eve~i~ Big hair She ants· T 1111 fof faq Wllaml (Mercury) (Columbia)

7 Touoh Ali Over "'In My House"' Jolin Clllerty & Mary Jane Girts tile Bawr (Gordy/Motown) Brown Bind (Scotti Bros.)

8 Southern Accents "'W:'i On Sunshine"' TORI Pelly & llllrilll Tile W-Tile Hul'llrlallell (Capitol) (MCA)

9 The Confessor "'The Search Is Over'· Joe ...... s.mor (Warners) (Scolli Bros.)

10 Steady Nerves "'AViewToAKill"" Graham Parlier & Dlntl Dllrln Tile Slllt (Eieklra)

(Capitol)

POSTERS & TEES NOW ARRIVING

- "'

Pleasant at Magazine I New Orleans, Louisiana 70115 I 504-897-5015 I

10 WAVELENGTH/AUGUST 1985

I

I

Skankin' In The Heat Visit your local air conditioned record store and stock up

on these cool discs from hot spots.

While a lot of people might be hiding out in their air conditioned rooms during August, braver souls are

willing to venture out and enjoy our tropical weather with some great Caribbean sounds to keep you skankin' through the heat. New Orleans record stores are being flooded right now with excellent new releases as well as some sounds from Africa and the Caribbean that have never before been available here.

If it's soca that keeps you on your feet, check Leston Paul's Soca Inva­sion, newly released on B's Records out of New York. Leston Paul, arranger and musician, is largely responsible, along with Frankie Mcintosh, for the sound of today's soca records, playing and arranging a large. n~mber of the best &oca bi~s of the, pas,t few carnival seasons in. Trinidad/Tobago, including Arrow's 1983 international hit, "Hot, Hot HoC' dn Soca Invasion, Leston Paul has re-recorded his own ver­sions of eight soca hits of the '85 Trinidad Carnival season, like Cra­zy's "Soucouyant" (Road March Winner), Merchant's "Rock It" and Byron Lee's "Tiney WineY.' Even though the new versions on this album don't stray far from the origi­nals, Soca Invasion is a good collec­tion of hits for those who don't own these songs by the original artists.

Soca music isn't merely disco-fied calypso style, but a blend of influ­ences from around the Caribbean. From the French Antilles (Guade­loupe and Martinique) comes a dance beat called cadence whose characteristic funky bass lines are now heard in soca and even a fair

amount of African pop. In fact, "Cadence Mudanda:' a new· release by Zaire's Tabu Ley Rochereau with Mbilia Bel, is the latest in a long line of Caribbean-inspired African pop, following on the heels of the soca­highlife crossover hits of Nigeria's Sonny Okosun, Zaire's Jewel Ackah and others. The first actual cadence album that I've seen in a New Orleans store is now available on Globe Style Records. Dance! Cadence! features a song each by eight different groups from Guade­loupe and Martinique, all of which show how Carib isles like Cuba, Trinidad, Montserrat and the French Antilles have borrowed from each other. Listeners to the WWOZ Caribbean Show have heard most of the cuts from this album as well as some other great cadence by Guade­loupe's Kassav and Haiti's Tabou Combo,. and the listener response has been enthusiastic.

A. new ~hipment of import Afri­dm albums has made it into town as well, and many of these are worth hearing. Bopol Mansiamina's album of last year, Bopol, contains two international hits from last summer, "Afric Ambiance" and the slightly repetitious "Samedie Soir!' This record is Congolese music (Mansiamina is from Zaire) at its best. Another excellent Congolese disc, this one a 1985 release, is Les Quatre Etoiles (4 Stars). And from Senegal, but residing and recording in Paris, Toure Kunda have several albums available, including their most recent, Natalia. Recom­mended are their .two albums, which stick close to the roots, the acoustic Casamance, Au Clair de Ia Lune and Toure Kunda, which combines

-····~"' ~. 9vfon.tsermt"' ~(jlWfcloupe

~~ 0

0 •• .. 17

A map shows why the islands are influenced by Cuba.

.. roots with n

HUl Gaba1 album His 1 was s So uti' sounc styles umn That': that c kela i: gethe1 he re Masa A mer musi< Afric and t'

Frc Isaac Isaac by m vinci1 his l~ man~

myo ten i1 frorr State

A I 12" waY(

worl1 by I "Ch

12 WMELENGTHIALIGUST 1115

Local Actor Role In Eastwood Film

G raham Paul was a graduate drama student at Thlane Uni­versity in 1983 when he landed the role of Luther

Boggs in Clint Eastwood's Tight­rope which was shot in New Orleans. Eastwood liked him so much that he used him again in Pale Rider, his new Western.

Paul plays Ev Gossage, a timid homesteader forced to fight for his property.

For Paul, Ev Gossage was a legiti­mate break, the kind many actors never get. Yet his phone hasn't been ringing off the wall with offers since the movie opened last month, and he isn't making reservations for Hollywood or New York City. In late July he and his wife Aime and their 1112-year-old son David moved to Asheville, North Carolina, so Paul could direct and teach drama at little Warren Wilson College. Wilson has 500 students. "It's the perfect opportunity for me;• Paul said. "It's what I've always wanted~'

Before coming to New Orleans Paul had worked off-off Broadway in the lruck and Warehouse Theatre in New York City. He also worked in plays at the Washington Square Church and St. Mark's Community Center.

For ten years he toured the U.S., Europe and Southeast Asia with the Otrabanda Theater Company. Six of those years were spent touring Mississippi River communities on a raft. Otrabanda was also known as the River Raft Revue.

Says Paul about his role in Pale Rider, "My actor friends told me 'this is your big break, you should go to Los Angeles~ But I've slogged it out in New York City, and I decided that there are some things more important than my profes­sional life~·

After three weeks of shooting Pale Rider in Sun Valley, Idaho, Paul carne away with some distinct impressions of Eastwood.

"He's not Marlon Brando or Laurence Olivier,' Paul said. "He's not a great actor and he's not a bad one. He plays himself and he's suc­cessful to that extent. He knows how he comes across on the screen. He also knows what he's doing. He's a professional. He has his own production company within Warner Bros. and he has been producing these movies at something like one every six months. I wonder how he keeps going. He also has the reputa­tion of using you a lot if he likes you as an actof.'

Paul found Eastwood to be shy. "I think he's naturally shY,' Paul

said of Eastwood, "but he doesn't

do it in a rude way. He is very kind to the actors he works with. He was always asking me, 'do you need this: or 'are you being treated well~ I tried to engage him in a long conversa­tion, but I was never successful~'

What did Paul miss the most while he was in Idaho?

"Being away from home for three weeks:• Paul said.

Paul's performance in Pale Rider was believable, and often humor­ous. Yet he frequently overacted, and appeared to be forcing some of his lines. His best moment came toward the end of the movie when he sheepishly asked Eastwood's steely preacher for help in the town's bat­tle.

Pale Rider is predictable East­wood fare echoing his spaghetti westerns of the Sixties. A man from nowhere saves a town in need of hope. Strictly for Eastwood fans, Pale Rider offers little in the way of performances or character develop­ment, though Eastwood's opening line should be a new entry into the movie quote book next to Sudden Impact's "Go ahead, make my daY.'

Directed by Eastwood, Pale Rider confirms his commitment to the tried and true formula of loner bat­tling system (Hang 'em High, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Gauntlet, Sudden Impact, Tightrope). Eastwood's character challenges viewers to do no more than observe.

Like Sylvester Stallone, Eastwood is more a media figure than an actor. Judging by his box office success, Eastwood appears to be a product of a society that demands as little as he offers. As opposed to character actors, Eastwood the actor plays himself in virtually every role. He is leaden in roles that seldom require real range or imagination.

p a c

g c

r le m td to was

Ja~Kie Gleas~~:- "Today's stars are no good, they haven't got it in them. Clint Eastwood is the big­gest draw and he uses only one· expression. Seems the way he looks at it is: why ti¥ to make a lot of faces if you can make it with one?"

Silverado Eastwood should take lessons

from Lawrence Kasdan on making westerns. Kasdan, who directed, produced and co-wroti; Silverado, appears to have fervently researched classic movie westerns.

Silverado contains the absolute good and bad characters of Stage­coach, the timely banding together of strangers in Who Shot Liberty Valance and Stagecoach, the moral dilemmas of Red River and High Noon and the triumph of good over evil of Stagecoach and High Noon. Shot in Santa Fe, New Mexico, it also offers a panoramic view of the West's unspoiled beauty.

Silverado is what westerns used to be: action-packed and thought-pro­voking. It speaks of human poten­tial and energy, resurrecting a movie genre and brlftging it back to Holly-· wood where it belongs.

Kevin Kline and Kevin Costner . are inspired and believable as two of the four loners that team up to save the town of Silverado from possible· extinction, but Danny Glover runs away with the picture as Mal, the son who avenges his father's mur­der. Glover offers a fullness tinged with pride and compassion.

Rosanna Arquette watchers will be disappointed, though, as their heroine appears for no more than ten minutes.

Kasdan deserves credit for casting blacks in three relatively major roles, headed by Glover, and for making a movie that Hollywood didn't want to make.

Mad Max Beyond ·Thun· derdome

Critics seem to be afraid to say anything negative about Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Not me: the first 45 minutes are impressive, the rest disappointing at best.

Stung: Even though Eva (Jennifer "Flashdance" Beals) owes her life to Dr. Frankenstein (Sting), he cannot possess her ICNe.

Set in Barter Town, a city con­structed from the rubble of the apocalypse, the third installment in the Mad Max series paints an imag}.. native portrait of a society afraid of the past and running blindly into the future.

Barter Town dispenses j!Jstice ,in the Thunderdome, a modern version of the Roman Coliseum, where, as the film repeatedly men-. tions, "two men' enter, one man leaves~· The city, run on pig manure, is ruled by Master Blaster - the master has the brain, the blaster has the brawn.

After subtlely contrasting Barter Town justice with that of atomic annihilation, and the wheel-justice chosen at random but firmly dis­pensed with justice factually deter­mined but randomly dispensed, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome becomes a Chuck Norris movie. Mad Max the character takes a back seat to Mad Max the fighting machine.

As Mad Max, Mel Gibson gives an average performance in a role requiring minimal acting. In her movie debut, Tina Turner is convinc­ing as Aunty Entity, though her ten­dency to go for too much should

disappear with more roles. This is another FTFO~ fm true fans only.

Explorers Hollywood knows a winrung for­

mota when it sees one. "Kids Plus Special Effects Equals Money" has been milked all the way to the bank since Steven Spielberg's E. T. three summers ago. Explorers is the lat­est. It concerns three kids who build a spacecraft to explore - get the title - alien worlds they have only read about. Directed by Joe "For­mula" Dante, whose Gremlins was a huge box office success, Explorers doesn't take itself too seriously, and that's a relief. It offers a winning debut performance from 14-year­old Ethan Hawke as Ben, and the sobering realization that perhaps our idea of outer space is a reJection of ourselves.

Coming Attractions Director Frank Roddam calls The

Bride "an allegory for creation ... a fable!' It is said to underscore the infinite boundaries of human igno­rance and sensitivity.

The story of Dr. Charles Baron Frankenstein and his new creation, a female counterpart for his male

POOL TABLES

I • ' I I \' n 1 · '\ · ·,, ! · ·

I r~el Brifle star.s Stir/g of the English rock group The Police and Jennifer Beals of Flashdance.

As Frankenstein, Sting is reunited with Roddam, who directed him in • 1979's Quadrophenia. The Bride is Sting's fourth feature film following Quadrophenia, Brimstone and Trea­cle in 1982 and last year's Dune. Says Roddam: "[Sting] has that rare combination of arrogance and style~·

In her first starring role since Flashdance, Beals is the title charac­ter. "If someone were to fashion the perfect woman physically and spirit­uallY,' says producer Victor Drai, "she would be Jennifer!'

Beals, who won the part in Flashcjance over 4,000 others as a Yale freshman with little acting experience, says acting is special. "I'll continue acting if and when the right part comes along;• Beals says. "I only want to do things I truly like~·

Now, let's see. In Fright Nigbt there's this boy, see, who watches too many horror movies on TV. And he's got this really weird next door neighbor, see, who is a flying vam­pire. So he gets help from this guy who used to act in horror movies and now hosts a horror movie show.­to, like, steamrol.l this vampire dude. The only uminswereCI ques;. tion: like, will he use a cross or shoot him down with a heat-seeking mis-sile? •

Roddy McDowell, who was born to act in horror films, is the veteran movie actor. William Ragsdale is Charley Brewster, the youngster with the airborne neighbor. Chris­topher Sarandon, whose career has been on the slide since his acclaimed performance as AI Pacino's homosexual lover in Dog Day Afternoon, is the neighbor.

Writer and director Tom Holland and producer Herb Jaffe went all out in the special effects depart- · ment, hiring Academy Award win­new Richard Edlund, who created the special effects in Ghostbusters.

Says Holland: "One thing I wanted to avoid at any cost was hav­ing the special effects overshadow the acting!' We'll see. 0

DARTS .. everything you want to know about America's musical

legacy to the world- the blues. I have subscribed and I

hope you do. too. Tell 'em Lucille sent you." SANDWICH SHOP BURGERS, FRIES

PQ.BOYS It SNACKS

$18.00 per year

4 magazines/ 12 bluesletters*

•U}u\ orders. (~nd for

mformal1on on overseas rates.

B. B. King· Send to: LIVING Btu~

Center for the &udy"d &luthc::rn Culture

The lfn1Vers1ly of Miuissipp1

Umvers1ly. Me:\> 38677

Telephone: 6011'232-5993

MON l...adln' 2

FREE $1.25

Mol.on

lUES t...dies' Night 2 Free

8:00-12:00

WED Draft.,_.

Night 35' Dnft

$2.25 l'ltdMn

4801 MAGAZINE

I SUN (:la·::.fl !

MatY• to ..... • 4p. ... .

I

899-9228

AUGUST1985nNAVELENGTH13

LAND TR 909 Rhythm Composer list pnce sole pnce

$1195° 0 $649° 0

Many other Roland products on sale: Guitar Synthesizers, Keyboard Synthesizers, Digital Delays, Rock Mount Effect Units, and accessories.

In House

Financing

Avai lable IN GREATER NEW ORLEANS: • 605 Canal Street. Downtown .... .. . 524-7 51 1 • Lakeside. Metaine. LA . . • 831 -2621 • Oakwood, Gretna. LA . • . . ..... 362-3131 e Piaza. Lake Forest. East N 0 . .. . .. 246-6830

W e know what 's good ... but love w hat's bad

14 WAVELENGTH/AUGUST 1985

Hits From The North

Chris Kenner "/Like It Like That" Regency 863

N ormally a million seller like " I Like It Like That" can hardly be

considered a rare record, but a quick investigation of this issue clarifies the situation. Originally issued on Instant 3229 in 1961, this is the Canadian release of the million seller. Regency, which was distrib­uted by Phonodisc north of the 49th, often issued R&B hits that originated on U.S. independent labels, during the late Fifties and early Sixties. Although this was probably their only deal with Instant (leases were later assigned to

VI

The Doors Dance On Fire MCA Home Video

Apart from Elvis, no American pop idol has attracted more

posthumous attention than Jim Morrison. Given the stream of "cash in" Doors memorabilia that has flowed steadily since Morrison's death, one can't help but approach this "official" video release with a little healthy skepticism. Thank­fully, the surviving Doors and pro­ducer George Paige have assembled a loving and apt tribute to the adventurous artistic spirit of Morri­son and his band. Avoiding the mor­bid nostalgia that coats the King's legacy like slime, the Lizard King's scions have chosen instead to view The Doors as an on-going tradition - as vital today as they were in the Sixties. This perspective is Dance on Fire's great strength.

The wealth and variety of mate­rial on this hour-plus tape is impres­sive. Concert performances, television appearances, and promo clips (yes, they had them back then) chart The Doors' evolution from self-conscious students to cocky musicos pushing the limits of pop. Among the rarities is the original promo video for "The Unknown Soldier" -complete with gritty war footage and Morrison's mock exe­cution scene - which was banned when it first appeared in 1968. Other clips have been assembled more recently from archival Doors foot­age. And for "L.A. Woman:• Doors keyboard man Ray Manzareck directed a new film featuring a cameo appearance by X's John Doe as a homicidal maniac. In Man­zarek's hands, the song becomes a giddy, kaleidoscopic celebration of

1re$)~~ \1)( "\I) - --· ---

Trans World for Canadian distribu­tion) other Regency singles origi­nally appeared on Sue, Specialty and Fire, making them in demand items for us Doug and Bob McKen­zies of the R&B set.

As I recall, this record did pretty well in the summer of 1961 back in Canada, because it was on the juke­box at the bowling alley and they played it on Canadian Bandstand.

-Almost Slim

Los Angeles' cultural and ethnic diversity.

In this respect, The Doors were a true reflection of their home town,. an ongoing experiment in cultural

·crossbreeding. Blurring the distinc­tion between arty experimentation and teen pop, they fused the libidi­nous energy of black blues with a primal, uniquely American mysti­cism. Dance On Fire faithfully and engagingly captures the spirit of the rock tradition the Doors sired.

-Alan diPerna

Randy Newman Live At The Odeon RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video

This is a solid 57 minutes of great songs and performances that

epitomize Newman's self-satiric edge. He makes fun of his piano playing ('this is why l win the Play­boy Jazz Poll year after year"), his lyric writing ("this part saves the song from being mediocre") and even his collaborators, as guest singer Linda Ronstadt sits down next to him on the piano bench dur­ing his rendition of "Linda" and he needles her, saying "How many houses do you have? You know, most people have only one~· But aside from the dry humor that's a part of such Newman classics as "Political Science" and "Short Peo­ple;• this video also does a terrific job of showing Newman's crafts­manship, attention to detail and emotion. His readings of "l Think It's Going To Rain Today" and "Christmas In Cape Town" (surely the most extraordinary song about apartheid that will ever be written)

. are beautiful, and Ronstadt per­forms a bit stiffly but well on "Texas

G

Girl At The Funeral Of Her Father" and "Real Emotional Girl~'

Ry Cooder also guests on a few tunes, including the rarely-per­formed "Let's Burn Down The Cornfield:' slide guitar and New­man's low growl blending even bet­ter than on the original 12 Son~s version. Ronstadt and Cooder also make "Rider In The Rain" loopy good fun, with Newman breaking up as he sings his ridiculous cowboy lyrics.

While there are a few noticeable dubs and cuts, in general director Michael Lindsay-Hogg and editor Stacey Foster keep things running smoothly and certainly recreate the intimate club atmosphere, the sort of place Newman used to play before he moved to the larger venues.

-Mark Leviton

Slouxsle& The Banshees Once Upon A Time Sony Video EP

As the longest-surviving members of British punk'~ first flowering,

Siouxsie & The Banshees are some­thing of a venerable institution in the U.K. Dinosaurs, you might say. In the States, sadly, they have remained a cult item. This seems especially ironic when you consider that everyone from Boy George to Exene has taken a cue from Sioux­sie's inscrutable cat woman style, and that The Banshees have inspired several waves of gloom-and-doom bands on both shores. But unlike some of their less inventive off­spring, Siouxsie & The Banshees have always been more than just gothic rockers- and more than just a punk band for that matter. Playing a kind of kiddie-party sensibility against nightmarish themes, their music is a hypnotic chiaroscuro that has held up well under the passing of time and fashions.

On videotape, it took a while for The Banshees to hit their stride. A collection of the band's video clips, Once Upon A Time traces their progress from the very beginning up to about 1981. The videos fall more

rr IIJ <J)

~ r z rr IIJ (!)

0 a: IIJ

or less neatly into three categories. We start with three well-executed but relatively staid performance clips featuring the original Siouxsie & The Banshees line-up. The next three clips correspond to the Kalei­doscope album - a transitional period during which the band was officially a trio with no guitarist. The emphasis is on performance once again, but with some impor­tant differences. The sets have warped into Cubist tangles of irreg­ular geometric shapes. Siouxsie -reticent, almost prim, in the earliest clips- has moved front and center, her features now crystalized into The Face That Launched A Thou­sand Bands.

The final three clips captures Siouxsie & The Banshees at a musi­cal and visual high point: the Juju album. With their spacious feel and hallucinogenic use of color, "Spell­bound" and "Arabian Nights" are among rock video's finest moments. Ending as it does on this high note, the collection leaves one eagerly awaiting Once Upon A Time Vol­ume II.

-Alan diPerna

Tina 1\lrner Private Dancer Sony45

Tina Thrner is undoubtedly one of the most visual performers in the

business - stick her in front of a camera, and the lady knows exactly what to do. Small wonder then that this collection of four great tracks­"What's Love Got To Do With It:' "Better Be Good To Me:' "Let's Stay Together:' and "Private Dancer" - packs such a punch.

"What's Love Got To Do With It" is actually a second version -the first video (moody, B&W and superior in this' writer's opinion) was shelved in favor of this more upbeat, "1-don't-give-a-damn" depiction of Tina. Still, if it sacrifices some of the first version's vulnerability and introspection, it also has the undeni­able advantage of some great cover­age of those famous legs as she confidently makes her way through the gritty streets of New York. Directed by Mark Robinson, the clip helped reinforce her image as that of a sensitive and tender woman who is also tough and assertive enough not to get stepped on again.

Tina successfully tackles another sort of role - in "Private Dancer.· Here, instead of the familiar Tina Turner dance1, hair flying, hips shaking and high-heels beating a tattoo across the stage, we're intro­duced to a tired, resigned dime-a­dance woman of the Forties, a woman whose only escape from the banality of her existence is in flights of fancv.

All in all, a great collection of clips that showcases a great package - The Legs, The Voice, The Moves -they're aU here, in glorious color and hifi sound. Get it.

-lain Blair

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

• • • • • • • • • • •

• • • • • • • • •

- PA and Disco Systems (Installation and Service available)

-Guitars, Amps, Accessories -Rentals -Financing_ Available

AUGUST SPECIAL! SOUND SYSTEM

CHECKUPS!!

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

: • • • •

3215 edenborn ave. metairie, Ia. 70002

(near lakeside) ':E. i •••••••••••••• • ••••••••••• • •• • •••• • •••••••••

(504) 454-6331

AUGUST 1115/WAVELENGTH 15

A grou effort

Join the Jaycees' fight against muscular dystrophy

by attending

THE FIRST ANNUAL WAGGAMAN JAYCEES'

MUSIC FEST WITH LEE DORSEY, MASON RUFFNER,

IRMA THOMAS, DOUG KERSHAW, DEACON JOHN, J.D. Hill & THE JAMMERS, THE RADIATORS, TEASER, SILURIAN, AND

MORE OF YOUR FAVORITES.

PRODUCED BY: RON WHITE PRODUCTIONS S a..ND BY·. ARIAN PRODUCTIONS

AUG. 31 Sept. 1·2 11:00 'TIL 11:00.

BOCK 'N' BOLL GUMBO

This re·mixed version of the 1974 album classic brings Fess' totally unique piano style up to the forefront and adds two new unreleased songs. His playing influenced Dr. John, James Booker, and many others, and along with Jerry Lee Lewis, took rock piano to its apogee.

1, ROCK 'N' ROLL GUMBO includes many of the songs

- featured in Stevenson Palfi's award-winning documentary "Piano Players Rarely E\ler Play Together" and includes the only recording of Professor Longhair with the great blues guitarist Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown.

Oanclna C.. R.cordo ue manufocturod In coopenrion with Windhom Hill and dillribu•d by A&.M. DC3006

Keeping It Cool Johnny J and The Hltmen Nuclear Hayride Niteshade NRS 88

lleft New Orleans to vacation in New England three weeks ago

with a tape of the Hit men's LP on my Sony and it hasn't come off yet. Nuclear Hayride is easily the best rock 'n' roll album by a New Orleans band in recent years. What makes this debut album explosive is a volatile mixture of hot songs and terse vocal interplay, more than great instrumentation or individual performances.

The singing and songwriting on Hayride is the work of guitarist Johnny Jay and bassist Dave Clem­ents, one of the zaniest songwriting teams around. Jay contributes a hard rockabilly edge to their collab­orations. On "Big City Lights" and "I Don't Want To Work No More" he sings in the tense vocal style developed during his days with local rockabilly legends the Blue Vipers. Clements adds his goofy pop sensi­bilities and the result is a dozen orig­inal songs that go beyond rockabilly and perhaps past rock 'n' roll to just good ol' American music.

Producer Alex Chilton deserves credit for turning two hasty days in the studio into a fully realized pro­ject. Chilton contributed vocal har­monies on "Don't Treat Me Like I Treated You" and piano on "Might As Well Admit It:' the album's two strongest cuts. With Chilton's pro­duction, fine drumming by Joey Torres and the sparkling teamwork of Jay and Clements, Nuclear Hay­ride is likely to get picked up by a big­ger label or an independent distributor and put New Orleans back on the rock 'n' roll map. Get on the wagon, boys and girls, this is a hayride you won't want to miss.

-Macon Fry

Lounge Uzarcls Live 79181 ROIRA-136

In the years surrounding the 1980 hump, every clear building space

in New York City was pasted over with Lounge Lizards' performance announcements. The group released a critically acclaimed album that defied categorization, and copies were scattered in both the jazz and new wave departments of record stores. The concerts were made flashes of era long gone and far ahead. The group broke up in 1982, shortly after the Berlin Jazz Festival.

Composer and sax player John Lurie went into fllm. He stars in the Jim Jarmusch picture Stranger Than Paradise, which will be com­ing to the Prytania this summer. Lurie selected and re-recorded the tracks on this release from perform-

ances in Berlin, London, Cleveland and New York. The production is excellent and the avant -garde pop/ jazz approach at times borders on violence (they turn Earl Hagan's "Harlem Nocturne" into a Harlem nightmare). Their self-penned clas­sic "Stompin' At The Corona" and "I Can't Hardly Walk" are the high­lights. Lizard alumnus Arto Lindsay has recently released a solo album (Envy on ECM) and also made a cinematic appearance as the news­paper vendor in Desperately Seekmg Susan.

This excellent recording is a cas­sette-only release by ROIR (pro­nounced "roar"). It is worth checking into the catalog of this young company for some very inno­vative music, not found on any vinyl. Included in the catalog is a New Orleans recording with Ziggy Modeliste by punk/actor Richard Hell as well as recordings by Nico, Television and the New York Dolls.

For more information write Rea­chout International Records, Suite 725, 611 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

-St. George Bryan

Spencer Bohren Born In A Biscayne New Blues SB 1414

Singer/guitarist Spencer Bohren has developed his career with

dedication and enthusiasm, as evi­denced by his debut album, Born in a Biscayne. A Wyoming native, Bohren fine-tuned his musical craft through years of touring the South from a New Orleans home base. The inspiration and influences he absorbed, which range from bounc­ing New Orleans boogie to menac­ing Delta blues, come together with truly enjoyable results.

While audiences are most familiar with Bohren as a solo performer, half the album features a tight, hard rockin' band, including Dr. John on keyboards, John Mooney, and Tommy Malone on guitars. Ricky Cortes on bass, Kenneth Blevins on drums, Eric Traub and Ken "Snake­bite" Jacobs on saxophones, and Eric Langstaff on trombone.

Things start off with a rollicking New Orleans piano on Bohren's original "Straight Eight:• which rocks down the highway with surg­ing horns and Blevins kicking things right along. Dr. John and Bohren engage in a hilarious dialogue on the R&B novelty classic, "Shopping for Clothes~· The doctor's sleazy, sales­man's baritone is really too much.

"Broke Down Engine" and "Eloise" are showcases for Bohren's National steel guitar. He really works on these solo pieces, and his strong playing is matched by singing filled with conviction. The side closes with "In Between Friends:· a

L-----1AW.,~EN0~~1~--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~---

haunting song about a lonely man in Memphis that immediately conjures up Robbie Robertson and The Band, thanks to Mooney's mando­lin, Bohren's acoustic guitar and Dr. John's double-tracked piano and organ.

"Born in a ·Biscayne" opens side two with a funky, Caribbean groove, underpinning a stinging bottleneck guitar line. It's an intriguing tune about a mysterious maverick, cloaked in shadowy, swamp imagery. Bohren returns to the National steel for "Drop Down Mama:• an exuberant blues._txcur­sion that includes bass and drums grinding away in a real down home boogaloo. "Blues on the Ceiling" showcases Bohren's resonant, dex­terous acoustic fingerpicking, and "Midnight Delta" is a duet between Bohren's National and Mooney's slide work. This tune also features a colorful stream of images out of the South's panorama. The final num­ber is "Snap Your Fingers:' a bub­bling R&B tune that spotlights Dr. John's rocking piano.

With his first album Spencer Bohren proves that as a solo artist he makes a whole lot of music for one man, and when he gets in front of a good band he can really CIJt loose.

Born in a Biscayne is available in cassette or album form by writing to New Blues, River Road, Pointe-a-la­Hache, Louisiana 70082.

-Bob CatJiliotti

Wynton Marsalis Quartet Dirty Dozen Brass Band Kent Jordan Terence Blanchard & Donald Harrison Quintet Young New Orleans Carnegie Hall, NYC, June 26, 1985

While the lion's share of the fifty­plus events at George Wein's

New York Kool Jazz Festival fea­tured a stellar array of seasoned vet­erans, the "Young New Orleans" show injected a breath of freshness and much-needed creative challenge into the ten-day line-up. The packed house at Carnegie Hall was not dis­appointed by the parade of fledgling jazz talent that testified to the vital­ity of the present-day New Orleans music scene.

The show opened with trumpeter Blanchard and saxophonist Harri­son, backed by pianist Mulgrew Miller, bassist Phil Bowler, and drummer Ralph Peterson, Jr., div­ing into two penetrating, Jazz Mes­senger-flavored originals, featuring long solos and hard driving tempos. They turned their attention to the softer side of things with "When I Fall In Love:• which began with a touching duet between Blanchard and Miller, and climaxed with a dra­matic high note in Harrison's alto saxophone solo. Blanchard and Harrison engaged in a clever, con­trapuntal conversation on the classic Ellington melody, "Satin Doll;'

18 WAVELENGTH/AUGUST 1885

while riding atop Peterson's funky, shuffle rhythm. They closed their set with a Coltrane-inspired piece that featured a driving intensity, exposive dynamics and complex rhythmatic shifts, and was a show­case for the incredible technical pro­ficiency possessed by these young players.

At the conclusion of the Blan­chard/Harrison set, Wein rushed on stage, herded the departing rhythm section back to their instruments and brought out flutist Kent Jordan as if his presence was an after­thought rather than a featured part of the program. Wein's introduction was the epitome of tackiness but the undaunted Jordan immediately took flight on "Milestones!' Peter­son set a brisk tempo with some flashy brush work and Jordan deliv­ered the tune with long, flowing lines, a smooth, well-rounded tone and fantastic breath control and articulation. It seemed the flutist had really captivated his audience, but inexplicably, one tune was all he was allowed. At the very least, Jor­d:m should have also been able to show what he could do with a bal­lad.

After a short intermission the Dirty Dozen came marching through the orchestra blowing a medley of "Bourbon Street Parade/ Saints;• all decked out in black tuxe­dos accented with red bowties, cummerbunds and handkerchiefs. Needless to say, it sure is a long way from The Glass House to Carnegie Hall. Although hearing them from the balcony buffers their impact, they still managed to get the whole house in a good time spirit. When they hit the stage, Jenell Marshall exhorted the crowd with a big, "Hello, New York!" and they tore things up with "Second Line;• "Blackbird Special:' and "Go To The Mardi Gras" (complete with a full band, unison whistle chorus).

"Saint James Infirmary" fea­tured heated baritone saxophone and trumpet solos. "In A Little Spanish Town" and "Mary, Mary" followed, and they closed with an abbreviated "Feets Can't Fail Me Now:• The crowd was obviously caught up in the Dozen's partying grooves, but it seemed it would have been appropriate (and eye-opening) for them to show what they could do on such modern jazz classics as Ellington's "Caravan;• Charlie Parker's "Bongo Beep;• and The­lonious Monk's "Blue Monk!'

When Wynton Marsalis emerged he was greeted with an enthusiastic, admiration-filled ovation. With brother Branford and pianist Kenny Kirkland on tour with Sting, Marsa­lis was backed up by a trio consisting of bassist Charnett Moffett, drum­mer Jeffrey Watts and new addition, pianist Marcus Roberts, who gave a bright, swinging feel to the group. The trumpeter began with his freely improvised, signature tune, "Knozz-Moe-King!' This was fol­lowed by "Sleepy Time Down South;' a mellow tribute to the patri­arch of New Orleans jazz, Louis Armstrong. Marsalis further explored his New Orleans roots with a growling "Saint James InfirmarY,' and then delivered a tender muted­horn ballad, Ellington's "Melan­cholia;• that exhibited the influence of Miles Davis. He returned to hard­blowing improvisation for a couple numbers, including Monk's "Think of One!' When the audience's thun­derous applause demanded more, Marsalis turned in an encore that featured a telepathic duet with bass­ist Moffett.

The jazz tradition was certainly shown to be in good shape on this evening, as the cream of the Cres­cent City cut loose in the Big Apple.

-Bob Cataliotti

Solomon Burke Soul Alive! Rounder 2042

This is my favorite listening these days. I just can't get over how

good this guy is. He makes me and everyone else I play this for feel very good. Great liner notes by Peter Gural nick.

-Mark Bingham

Talking Heads Little Creatures Sire 6036

Another great cover by M and Co ... a painting by the legend­

ary Howard Finster. The back cover is the four Heads done up in paisley. Yes, a modern psychedelic record. Is this Adam's influence? The sounds are eclectic, loose jointed, and sparse, going back to the old Heads sound of 1976-'78. Only now they are stronger in most every way. David Byrne's singing is very sweet, void of the mock anguish-in-the­adenoids sound that he is noted for. The words are ... well ... whatever you want them to be. More philo-

sophical Hints from Heloise than songs, the lyrics do just fine in meshing with the music to come up with many surprises and odd twists. Even some choral singing.

-Mark Bingham

George Strait Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind? MCA 5518

Taking small exception to Wave­length's usual disdain for mod­

ern country sounds, let's give praise where praise is due. George Strait is a great singer, he lets his band play a bit and he is playing a more roots oriented music than most of the other stuff you hear on country radio.

-Mark Bingham

Recovery Program for R.E.M Addicts

Are the grooves already wearing thin on your copy of R.E.M!s

Fables of the Reconstruction? Devotees of the popular Athens,

Georgia group can't seem to satisfy their appetite for the undecipherable vocals, resonant bass, chiming gui­tars and steady percussion that char­acterizes the R.E.M. sound. If you have acquired this addiction there is a recovery program just for you.

This year bands that sound like R.E.M. are everywhere. One of the best of these groups is 1 + 2 (one plus two), a new band from North Carolina. Last summer this group released a four-song EP, Watercolor Haircut; this summer The Ivy Room was released on Homestead Records. Although I + 2 often sound more pop than R.E.M., their songs "Windows" and "Mystery To Me" could be mistaken for obscure R.E.M. B-sides. It is interesting to note that I + 2 list sometime­R.E.M. producer Don Dixon among their acknowledgments.

The Windbreakers, from Jack­son, Mississippi, are another group R.E.M. fans can get excited about. They are the most refined of this new breed of bands. Their song "Changeless" is the epitome of the R.E.M. style: acoustic and electric guitars weaving around muffled vocals.

The Windbreakers also have a long list of noteworthy associates who aid them on their latest release, Terminal. Most tracks on the album are produced and engineered by Mitch Easter at his Drive-in Studio, where he helped R.E.M. record Chronic Town and Murmur. Easter and other members of Let's Active played on the album, as did mem­bers of the Los Angeles neopsyche­delic band Rain Parade.

On the New Orleans scene, Real­ity Patio's "Empty Room" sounds as much like R.E.M. as as local band could. Unfortunately I have not seen them live but "Empty Room" indicates that they have a lot

Lo Str All

stri goe rup Flyi to s is ir to the Ma tro (thi plo QU

Tea wit this

,, 'I II ~

I;

\\ \\ ,, .::::

:- -

: :

of talent. The lyrics and the vocals are much like what fans have come to expect from R.E.M~s Michael Stipe, yet Reality Patio's drums are mixed much louder and they use an organ (synthesizer) in the song.

If these groups are not enough to placate you until the next R.E.M. album materializes, there are many other bands that sound like R.E.M. for you to sample. Try: the Terrible Parade, the Connels, Miracle Legion, Beauty Constant or the Meat Puppets.

-KathyHarr

Lonnie Mack Strike Like Lightning Alligator A 739

Lightning may never strike twice in the same place but it seems to

strike Lonnie Mack wherever he goes. The cover is a simulated quad­ruple exposure of Mack playing his Flying V. The photo has been ripped to simulate lightning. Uh huh. This is ironic. Here's yet another attempt to get a good record out of one of the world's greatest rock guitarists. Mack can sing, too. So what's the trouble? Shoddy arrangements, (this is 1985, Stevie Ray, wake up!) plodding drumbeats, and a sound quality that most people with home Teac 4-tracks would be unhappy with. I guess the thinking behind this record was: if we put this year's

model guitar hero in here with Lon­nie we'll sell a few records. Well it didn't work. But ... Mack plays great solos and sings his ass off on this glorified demo tape from a label that should have known better.

-Mark Bingham

Lalo Schlfrln Enter The Dragon (soundtrack) Warner Bros.

Han's thugs force Mei Lee to com­mit hari kari to avoid disgrace.

Big brother Bruce Lee goes to Han's Island for revenge and a karate tour-

. narnent. The music is typical blax­ploitation fare only with Bruce Lee fighting sounds throughout. Medio­cre Schifrin, but a must for diehard Bruce Lee fans.

-Mark Bingham

Peter Gabriel Birdy Soundtrack Geffen GHS 24070

Director Alan Parker picked some old Gabriel tunes for the film.

Gabriel then built the rest of the soundtrack from other existing tracks. Unlike the cynical use of this concept in Footloose, where the pro­ducers based each and every song in the film on the rhythm tracks of existing hit records, Gabriel makes new work from old, work that goes considerable distance away from the

.. II \ " II II ,, 1/ .. '" I/ -, II ~' ~ II :::: ~ . -:::;. I II - ~ .::::: h \\ ~ .:::::. II ,, = ~

\\ - II \\ ~ II = ~ ~ II ~ ~ ~ \\ II ~ V ~ ~ ~ II ,... \\ ~ // -== ~ ~ ~ ~ \\ _......, II II-:::;.

1\ ~ - \\ __)J,,.'::iii!.

original tracks. Gabriel's warning that there are no lyrics and recycle material is not really necessary. This stands on its own.

-Mark Bingham

Roy Brown I Feel That Young Man "S Rhythm Route 66, Kix-26 (Sweden)

This is the fourth Roy "Good Rockin'" Brown album to be

reissued under the auspices of the Mr. R&B/Route 66 folks in Sweden. Unlike the previous LPs, this album has less direction; instead it serves as a sweeper, making available some of Brown's lesser-known tracks. That's not to say there's not some damn fine music here, completists will demand this, but if you're looking for your initial taste of Roy Brown, I'd suggest the two-LP set Hard Luck Blues or the two earlier Route 66 titles.

The album opens with the myste­rious "Deep Sea Diver" and "Bye Baby Bye" from the Gold Star label. Supposedly Brown's earliest ses­sion, apparently both songs were surreptitiously recorded and not issued until after his Deluxe records started to hit. Unfortunately they're not terribly exciting, sounding vaudevillian at best. "Lolly Pop Mama:• which was the flip of "Good Rockin' Tonight:' has a nice

rhythmic swing, and so does "Miss Fanny Brown" (the Roxanne of 1947) with the guys in the band get­ting a vocal workout too. "Rockin' At Midnight" will be familiar from the recent remake by the Honeydrip­pers, but the original remains unsur­passable even without an MTV video to back it up.

Get this if you want to hear the Rembrandt of R&B.

-Almost Slim

Cosmetic with Jamaaladeen Tacuma Gramavision 18-1210-1 (12-inch)

Another great cover by M and Co ... Tacuma floating in a red

velvet room complete with fruit bowl. The grooves are less exciting. The wicked bass playing Thcuma is famous for taking a long, long walk somewhere and we get some truly cosmetic dance music. The title track is okay. If you've not heard The Golden Palaminoes record, where Thcuma shines and plays his real stuff, then Cosmetic may work for you as a typical dance record full of sequencing, sampling, drum machines, silly chants and late-night attitude. Best line: "She went to Paris, France ... to act and to dance~· Ah, New York.

-Mark Bingham

AUGUST198snNAVELENGTH19

Cutbacks or Cutthroats? New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation president Bill Rousel/e answers some tough questions about Jazz Fest cutbacks. By Bob Cataliotti we•

nar peo

What is meant by the term "non-profit?" Does it mean you're happy breaking even or is the organization trying to make money?

We're trying to put on a festival that pays for itself, and to make enough money so we can put on programs throughout the year. One of the prin­ciple things that we've been able to do is to utilize _ the money that we make off the festival to give out grants to musicians, to cultural groups so that they can continue developing the talent in the city. We want to get to the point where we have an on-going program whereby we'd be able to employ local musicians, bring in some musicians from out of town, and have them work with some of our younger people to develop their skills. Ultimately, we want to be able to be a resource base for this community, to be able to develop its heritage and keep it going. In New Orleans, for all intents and purposes, what we have to sell is our people: the talents and skills they have developed and·nur­tured over the years really make New Orleans the unique place it is. What we hope to be able to get to the point of doing is having a year-round program that helps to sustain the local musicians and train some of the people to come on behind.

So actually there is an effort to make money on the festival's events?

We do as much as we can from our perspective as a board to make sure that the festival is finan­cially viable. One of the things that happened this year, I think, that we got blamed for in this letter in the Picayune - which was a complete distortion of what actually happened - there was the impli­cation that we banned coolers in order to be able to make money off the beer.concessions. The fact of the matter is the Fair Grounds makes its money for rent off the concessions for beer, and it was the Fair Grounds who demanded in our contract that we ban the coolers. We went back and forth for two years with them.

It seems like this cooler thing has been going on for more than two years.

They had felt that the coolers cut into beer sales. The way we get the Fair Grounds is we trade off the beer concessions. That's their rent, for all intents and purposes, for the use of the Fair Grounds. We have been trying to point out to them that those coolers, for the most part, are used by families, who have to have soft drinks, something to eat, bottles for the babies, and what have you. If you're going to stay out there all day you need some kind of resources. As a matter of course, the coolers lend themselves to a family kind of atmosphere and we really want to attract the families to the festival.

So I guess there was a compromise where they let small coolers in?

Well what we did was, they wanted a ban on everything but we got them to bacX'off of a strict enforcement vn the small coolers. I think based on just a preliminary analysis of what happened this year we want to get them to lift the ban altogether. Hopefully; next year they'll see the wisdom of that and we won't have a ban on coolers, 'cause I do think it cut into some of our attendance, although I don't think we could handle many more people at the Fair Grounds anyway.

How do you distinguish between the founda-

20 WAVELENGTH/AUGUST 1985

tion and the festival? Well, let me give you a little history. George Wein

is the father of the festival. He came-down with the idea in 1969. He called on people like Arthur Davis, Judge Fetteroff and some others and pulled together a board at that point that was basically a local, community board without any kind of pur­pose or intention of being a foundation. As the · festival developed momentum and began to grow, he saw the wisdom of having a community-based board, a foundation that could take whatever sur­plus moneys that were made at the festival and put it back into the community. The board has really been in existence as a legal entity, a non-profit foundation, for about ten years now. I came on the board seven years ago, and it has been a maturing process for that foundation boarG deve­loping to be the entity that really runs and controls the festival. We have a contract with George Wein to produce the festival. He works for the founda­tion to produce the festival. He has primary con­trol over hiring and firing within the context of the festival. His contract with us is to produce the fes­tival, to do as best as possible to bring in a surplus which then supports the foundation

Obviously George Wein is not a non-profit entity.

No, he's not. We pay him a fee for putting on the festival. That fee hires him and about seven or eight associate producers, who actually run the day to day operations of the festival.

So ticket sales would have no effect on how much money Wein would make?

He makes a flat fee that we pay as a foundation board. All the various things that bring money into the festival determine whether we're going to make a profit or not from year to year but his fee is a set fee just paid on that basis. He won't make more as a result of getting more ticket sales. What we pay him is a flat fee unless we decide to do, as we may very well decide to do this year, hire the

'I generally think that the cuts, we as a board felt we had to do them. We tried to do it in such a way that we didn't destroy the basic fabric of what the festival is all about.'

\

~~ J I

1 I

staff or certain members of the staff for an addi- ten tional month. So what it amounts to is a bonus for hac the work they put into putting the festival per together. sio1

And that type of thing is at the discretion of the big foundation? we

The discretion of the foundation. We How about from year to year, what are the cro

expenses like? Have they been increasing every of year or have you been able to maintain? Gr

It has ebbed and flowed based on the festival, are which is an unfortunate aspect of it. If we do well, an• we're able to do more things. Our basic founda- stil tion budget runs in the neighborhood of $100,000 co: to $150,000. That's to pay for an executive direc- val tor, secretary, accountant, all the auditing, (we gel audit every year so that we keep our finances of straight) and for the various administrative func- m1 tions of the organization itself. When we have a good year we are able to do additional things. We va have a grants program. In 1983 when we made pl. somethinglike $300,000 off the festival, we were able to give out $100,000 in grants to musicians and groups to do the work in the community they Fe do. We have operative programs. We had an oral W•

history program where we collected information cl-. on some of the really noted historical figures and sc made that information available to the Louisiana Museum and their archives section. We publish a L• weekly calendar of events, the "Jolly Jazz Calen-dar,• which operates on a regular basis. We're always available to provide administrative pl resources to persons who might be seeking grants, g( and they need a non-profit entity to act as an w administrative body to help them get their project w off the ground. o

And these types of things are all dependent on 'c attendancefrom the previous year? ir

It's dependent upon the festival and how well it ti does. n

It's not just taken for granted that each year is b d 0

tl 0

(J

t t

bigger than the previous one because it seems that attendance has gotten greater every year?

It probably has, although this year it looks like we did better than we ever have, but from prelimi­nary figures, it also looks like in 1979 we had more people actually come out.

But that was three weekends, right? Right, that was three weekends, that was the

tenth anniversary. J1,1st in terms of numbers, we had more people but it was spread over a longer period of time. It gets bigger but we made a deci­sion that we don't want it to get to be too much bigger than it is now. Our board feels strongly that we have come up with the formula that works. We've come up with the right ambiance with the crowds that we're able to generate doing the level of programming we're doing now out at the Fair Grounds site. That site is limited, it's an enclosed area in the middle of a residential neighborhood, and you can get just so many people in there and still keep a reasonable sense of security and crowd control. So our intention is not to make the festi­val get bigger and bigger and bigger. We want to get better and better and better in terms of quality of music that's presented and still keep pretty much the same level of crowd coming through.

Okay, just from talking to people, veteran festi­l'al goers, "grapevine" music people, some com­plaints about cuts, etc.·

Okay. It started an hour later; one less stage; Stage

Four didn't require set up as opposed to building a wood stage; ticket prices went up; there was a clwrge for parking; there were fewer bands on the schedule.

Most of those complaints are real and true. Let's start at the top.

One hour later. We made a decision to go one hour later princi­

pally because we felt, in terms of music, and what goes on out there, we were able to get in as much within the time period we had as opposed to when we started a half hour earlier. Usually the gates open at 11:30. This is a matter that we will review 'cause one of the complaints is that people who are interested in the crafts and food need that extra time to get out there and look at those things and make their decisions about what they're going to buy before the music even starts. So even if we don't start the music at noon we will consider opening the gates earlier. It also ought to help with the traffic control. These people started lining up out there at nine in the morning.

One thing, I'm not sure if this actually occurred, but I was told the gates didn't open until twelve and the music was scheduled to start at twelve; did the music start at twelve?

The music started at twelve. So then all the people were still out on the street

when the music started. That's kind of ridiculous. A lot of them were. I think it's a decision that

we will review. I can't tell you we're going to change it but it's something that we will take into consideration and look toward correcting.

How about the elimination of a stage; I guess Stage Four and the Gazebo were combined?

Last year we barely broke even. A lot of that had to do with the World's Fair opening a week after the festival. We had to make some decisions in terms of cutting back in order for us to make the overall fest viable. One of those decisions was the elimination of a stage. One problem we've had over the years is the confluence of music with all of these stages. By eliminating a stage we were able to cut down on that tremendously. We have the stages set up now so that you can hear whatever you want to hear at the stage yo'u're at fairly well, without

/

having to listen to another sound coming in from another place. But the overall decision was for us to streamline and one of those things was to cut back on a stage.

When was this decided? We came up with that decision in conversation

with the producer about August or September of last year. And we basically agreed with the need to cut back on a stage, which would save us some money in terms of set up costs for that stage. It also meant that there would be fewer musicians. I make no bones about the fact that we streamlined this year. We did it so that we could be assured of a profitable festival, and thereby be able to lay a base for the foundation, where we could be less and less dependent on festival revenues for our operation. One thing we intend to do is to take some of the money we get this year and start an endowment, which means that we would have it put away in a long-term investment that would allow us to build the money so that the foundation becomes a regenerative thing in and of itself. Also, the foundation this year actively went after grants, which we haven't done in the past, which means that we were.able to get some moneys in outside of the festival revenues to operate specific programs that will allow us, over a period of time, to build the foundation into a strong entity that operates in the community year round. I think a lot of people focus on the festival because it's such a large event. It's our primary annual event but the foun­dation has as its purpose not to put on a festival but to encourage the preservation and develop­ment of the culture of the city. Part of that has to be done by the revenues that the festival generates but we want to get to the position where we have the stability so that we have the revenues to do that.

I think that most people feel the priority is that the foundation exists to make the festival run, and I guess what you're saying is ...

It's just the opposite: it's not so much the oppo­site but the scope of the foundation's work is more than just putting on a festival. I guess that's what it boils down to, and as I've indicated, George Wejn came before there was a foundation board, so obviously we've had, I wouldn't necessarily call it a struggle, but we've had a growth period where we went back and forth in terms of who was going

'Overall, we went into this year's festival with a budget of a million four hundred thousand dollars to put on a ten-day event.'

-

1, I I

to make decisions on what. We've come up with a contract right now with George Wein that we both can live with, which delineates who is responsible for what. We're at a point where the foundation board has matured and has gained enough of a foothold to look at really expanding the founda­tion's role so that we are able to operate year round and do a lot more than we're doing now in encouraging the local development of heritage and culture.

How about the higher ticket prices and the parking fee? Aside from the fact that some people complained that they never had to pay to park before, I also heard that it ruined the traffic situa­tion both because people weren't prepared to pay and it added another step in getting into the lot.

I haven't really had a chance to look at that and that's something we will look at but we decided to open up the lot and charge for parking. I think it's worth two dollars to park on the Fair Grounds. I think again, if you're coming in a car and putting out seven dollars for a ticket, and they're still five­fifty in advance, for what you're getting out there it's still a bargain. We have gone back and forth over ticket prices for years. It was our decision, and we'll take the heat if we're wrong, that a seven dollar ticket for eight stages and participation in that event out there was really a bargain. We did maintain a consciousness for people who couldn't afford seven dollars and that first Friday really has been dedicated to providing discount tickets and free tickets to senior citizen groups, to school chil­dren, to organizations in the community that deal with the disadvantaged. We have an outreach pro­gram, which this year was able to distribute close to 20,000 tickets to people who might not other­wise necessarily have been able to come out to the festival. You compare our ticket prices to what somebody 'J)ays to go to a concert and what they get out of it, I think we're still a good bargain.

The ticket prices have gone up and a lot of that just reflects the expense. Overall we went into this year's festival with a budget of $1,400,000 to put on a ten-day event, which is a lot of money to put out and hopefully this year we're gonna realize a significant portion of that money back and look at a decent surplus.

I know one thing that was definitely up front this year and George was certainly touting was the

sponsors: You had what, Channel Four, Channel Six, the Gospel Tent, the Staples Show, the Sarah Vaughan Show. ..

One thing the board decided was that in order for us to live up to our responsibilities, we had to do a lot more in terms of providing some· financial resources to the festival. So we started, back in September or October, actively seeking local spon­sorship to really broaden the perspective of spon­sorship and make it much more of a local oriented sponsorship progx:am. In years past, we were able to get large sponsorship from beer companies. Schlitz, for at least eight years, was the primary sponsor to the tune of $100,000, $125,000, $150,000. Schlitz went out of business and was taken over by another company. Strohs decided they were not prepared to put that kind of money out. We went one year without-any beer sponsor­ship. As of last year we decided that we needed to orient our focus of sponsorship on the local busi­ness community. We wanted to begin to convince them that they could get tremendous promotional mileage out of participation with us in the festival, and this would really expand our support because those people -who are sponsors are going to encourage other people to come out.

What form does the sponsorship take? They give you advertising dollars?

What we've done is developed a prospectus whereby there are different levels of sponsorship, and we've given dollar figures to the different lev­els. For a beer sponsor, we're talking in the neigh­borhood of $100,000 to $150,000. For each individual concert we have a sponsorship structure that starts at $5,000 for a single show, $7,000 for a double show, for tents out at the Fair Grounds we're talking in the neighborhood of $10,000 to $15,000. And all of the attendant publicity and pwmotion connected with the festival is provided with the sponsors getting their due credit.

Which they certainly did get. One thing that happened, I really believe, is the

media in particular learned as a result of the World's Fair what' they could do promotion-wise with the sponsorship. I think the festival, which has been around for 16 years, never really got the spotlight like we did this year. ·we were able to do that because they learned a lot in terms of dealing with the Fair. The Fair was a fiasco. We ·have an event that has been a solid, good event for the past 16 years. So it was very easy to get them to under­stand what they could get out of this. My general impr~ssion is that they've been pleased with what they got out of it, and we won't have that much problem getting sponsors in years to come.

Was the money from sponsors earmarked for promotion or did it go into the general fund?

It varied. In some instances we got in kind serv­ices, from the media, for instance, we got promo­tional considerations. It's a write-off on our line out budget but it was not dollars in our hands. When we got dollars, we were able to write off operating expenses and that goes into ·the general fund. But the media because they have connec~ tions to the broad community can trade off things, and I think thiS year they provided more promotional impetus than we've ever had.

Another thing I heard on the "grapevine" was that musicians were paid less.

If that's true, I'm not aware of it. I can't tell you that I'm aware of every contract signed with musi­cians but I would be very surprised to find that was the case. It's something I'd have. to look into. We did some s~e,arnlining this year so we could get in a position where we wouldn't have to do it any­more. One of the things that happened is that we will, in future years, be a lot more conscious of providing musicians, as many musicians as we possibly can, with work during the festival. I think even more importantly, the festival is ten days, if we can get this foundation program operating like we want to we'll be able to do something year round to keep musici~ working and better pro-

22 WAVELENGTH/AUGUST 1985

m_ote the music we have here to the general com­munity. Part of what happens with musicians is that they have to develop an audience. WWOZ, for instance, now has the most viable jazz pro­gramming in the city. We'd like to see that tremen­dously increased, whereby people would have a lot of options for listening to jazz, around the clock, and to kind of break this whole stranglehold that the record companies have which pumps out this rhythm and blues and rock all the time, and see a greater emphasis on the music that came out of this city and jazz in general. We've had the occa­sion to look at greater involvement with WWOZ because it is a public station whereby we can help promote music here locally .It's something we will pursue. See, our overall perspective has a lot more to it than just the festival. We want to do the kinds of things that will assure an audience for musi­cians, assure them work.

How about claims that the boats were drasti­cally oversold?

If that was the case the fire marshalls and police would have told us something. I don't know that we've been told anything. I would be interested in the source of that feedback because as far as I know we didn't have any problems with the authorities. I haven't seen the moneys yet but if we have more money than people that should have been accounted for, I could tell you for sure. I do know that prior to the festival opening, we sold out seven concerts out of the nine we produced. ' People see these sell-outs, they see the Fair Grounds packed. In the past seven festivals I've been to the Fair Grounds 29 times and I never saw it as packed. You can't get a beer, you can't even go to the bathroom because the lines are so long. So the question arises,· How can they say there's a need to cut back?

But you have to look at last year. We didn't sell out any second shows during nighttime concerts. We had a lower attendance the first weekend than

. we ever had. The year before is really the barome­ter as to what we're going to be able to do for the year coming up. We just happened to hit the right note this year, we were hot. I think the Wynton and Miles concert had a lot to do with it. But we worked hard on getting to that position and the fact that there were cutbacks was because we just did not have the resources coming out of last year, which is why we want to get to the point where we don't have to be dependent year to year. Rain would utterly devastate us. That's the reality of the kind of event we put on but we've still got to get to the point where that's not gonna make it or break it.

'I make no bones about the fact that we streamlined this year. We did it so we could be assured of a profit­able festival, and thereby be able to lay a base for the founda-tion, where we could be less a_nd less dependent onfestiv.al revenues for our operation.'

So I guess it comes down to how well you this year and whether the cuts were effective not.

I generally think that the cuts, we as a board we had to do them. We tried to do it in such a that we didn't destroy the basic fabric of what festival is all about, and I think we did that based on the response of people that did out. I know that we'll have other priorities if did well this year. One of them I know will be provide more work, particularly to local cians.

All year round? Programmatically with the foundation, all

round but in terms of the festival itself, more work for musicians next year. I'm coJnvtnct:ot of that.

Were you able to give out any grants from year?

We weren't. We gave them out two years We had just enough to operate the foundation : were able to provide loan support for a couple groups.

Well, a final complaint I heard was that, course they had to cut back, they bought and ovated their offices on Rampart Street. Why they do that instead of putting the money into the festival?'

Well anybody who understands real estate understand that if you are able to purchase erty, that doesn't mean that is money that accessible because it also means that it is an that you can go and borrow on at any time. who feel that the cutbacks were wrong, bad what have you, will have to continue to have feelings. We did what we felt was judicious board. Part of our responsibility is to be responsible for the operation of this festival the foundation in general. The things that we a lot of people weren't all that happy· with but if we hadn't done them we would feel we not being responsible baseq on the attendance last year and the amount of money we were able raise. That's the responsibility you take as a and I'll shoulder the burden. I think we had a tival that people generally felt good about. I it did a whole lot to give a better image to the of New Orleans, especially after the World's debacle, and all the kinds of scandals that being heaped upon Louisiana at this point. were happy to be able to put on an event could feel proud of, one that I think has tional kinds of fallout for the city in a positive We'll take the responsibility for that and thing else we've done.

/ -;.

!., .. ~ L

4/ ""·');

'~

F mo1 can Hig wh< excl win R.I pro am· che pin terr all) Bm

j

Del sor exc en~ aD(

the has

A BLUES LIVES THE LIFE

R.L. Burnside plays the blues as they were meant to be played ... and lived.

L. Burnside looks worried. 1be S200 be wired to his wife in Coldwater, Missis­sippi, can't be cleared, and she's just

• called to lay she's broke and needs some R.L. can't rl~Ufe out what the problem because be sent the money in care of the

11 ....... && back home "who~ cash anything:' to pass the money on. After a couple or

over the phone, R.L. p~mises he'll more that afternoon. The problem is

have enough money to fulrill his so be's consklerins pawning a borrowed to raise the cash. R.L. lays down his

guitar next to his half-consumed Black Velvet, scratches his bead, and con­

his next move. It seems life is.continu­~Xaentii~S such situations for bluesman R.L.

58, Burnside is one of the last authentic bluesmen still active. While his playing is

primitive, and his lyrical themes not oriainal, Burnside still IIUUUigeS to

audiences in his compellins perform­A quiet, simple man, who actually does live he portrays in many of his SODIS· Burnside

a surprising number of recordiop, and

By Almost Slim baS been to Europe no less than 17 times. Of late, Burnside bas been playing frequently in New Orleans a10111 with white lumnonic:a player John Nuremburg, who bas been riDding work for the duo - paiotiq houses to playing blues - and seneraiiY lookins out for R.L.

Bom November 23, 1927, Burnside stiD lives close to his birthplace, Cc)ldwater, Mississippi, which is situated 30 miles south of Memphis, where the bill country meets the Delta. Burnside srew up "always Iikins music:' and his rn instru­ment was the proverbial "diddley bow:' a strand of baling wire nailed to the side of the barn and played with a bottle. ·

"My parents split up when I was young:' be explains. ••My daddy moved to Cbicqo but my mother~ in Mississippi. There was plenty of lll1llic both placei, I pew up with it. I came up lis­teniDa to Muddy Waten, John Lee Hooker, uptnin' Hopkias - that's who I like to play beblad. Fact, I UleCl to-see Muddy Waters at the Oub Zantabar in Cbicqo. I never did play with him, but I could sit down and talk to him just like you and me are talkins. Fact, be married a cousin of mine!'

It was back in Mississippi, bmyever, where

Burnside~ picbd up a auitar durina the early 19501. At the time tbe Delta wu a hotspot for blues activity. W'ltb McmpbiJ just a few mDes away, Burnside could tune in daily to WDIA in Memphis and listen td the lika of B.B. King and Rufus Thomas. With the mere twist of the dial be could tune into KWEM in West Memphis and hear the Howlin' Wolf, who advertised farm iinplements and played the latest blues releues,. and if that WJSD't eoouah. each cfay at noon it wu "KiDs Biscuit Time" over KFFA in nearby H. ena, Arkansas, where the lep:ndary Sonny Boy Williamson played live daily alona with the KiDa Biscuit Boys.

"Oh I knew all those fellows!' be claima. ••Sometimes I'd visit Memphis or Helena, but they played in'the Delta a lot in 1\mica or Carts­dale. I'd always try and see them pla1-'

Burnside had eatly aspirati~ to play har­monica, in the mold ~Soany BOy WiJiiaiiiiOft, but "aeems lilce I couldn't- the bana of it.

""I liked the harp because it sounds so good. Besides if )'OU want to play somewbere, all )'OU need is your harps. By playin' the auitar )'OU aot to carry )'Our instrument and your amplifier. Always aeemed liRa lot of work to me? ·

Eventually learning the rudiments of the guitar, Burnside did so on a part time basis, as planting and harvesting cotton on a plantation came first. "I had separated from my first wife and I was looking for something to occupy my time. I bought a cheap old guitar but I couldn't play it too good. I watched other guitar players but I couldn't get the same sound. There was an old guitar player in the Delta called Rainey Burnette who showed me a few things and I tried to work with that.

"I remarried to the wife I got now, and my brother-in-law came to stay with us because he and his wife had split up. He had a nice guitar and he could play pretty good. I got him to show me some of those chords and tunings. Some nights we'd stay up until2 AM, him showin' me what to play. That made my wife mad too because we had to be up at sun up to pick cotton.

"After awhile he got back together with his

wife, but he left his guitar. I was embarrassed to play it even in front of tny wife. So the only time I would take it oyt to p~y was when she went to visit her mother.

"There was another old fellow who played at house parties and picnics around the Delta, Son Hibbler. He played at a party one night and me and my wife rode along with him in the back of a truck. People out in the country would throw par­ties on the weekend because that was fun for us. Well, we got there and Son played for hours and hours. Finally he got tired and put the guitar down on the bed. Well I'd had a few drinks and decided I was gonna try and play too. Well I picked up his guitar and played 'When My First Wife Left Me: 'Boogie Children: and 'Hobo Blues! Well, the people there really got behind me and that gave me a good feeling. Son came in and said 'Who's that playin' that guitar? He sounds good! Well that

gave me a start. Frotn then on I was gonna be a bluesman. - ~J

"I started playing country supper p~s and the like. Sometimes you'd play from 'Stmdpwn to sunup for $5 and a bottle of whiskey. But that was okay, that's all I was interested in. A little bit of money and a good time. I was still working on the plantation drivin' a tractor during the daY.'

Burnside's life remained unchanged well into the Sixties. Although the blues had fallen into disfa­vor nationally, the Delta remained a hotspot, and Burnside stayed busy most weekends playing for friends at picnics, parties and the occasional juke joint. Burnside had no ambitions to record until a friend, Othra Turner, who led the MissisSippi Fife and Drum Band, brought roving folklorist David Evans to visit. "They came by about two or three in the evening and asked me if I wanted to play a few numbers:• he explained. "I said sure, after I'd finished work.

AUG IE'S DELAGO "George Mitchell had been down in Mississippi

recording people like Fred McDowell and Roben Nighthawk at the time. Well, after I got off work he set up his recording equipment at my house and we must have played until 3 in the morning.

F.lli.,A.lf6.9 Contest for Most 0 t Sl . u rageous

eepJng Attire

-- ~

"I didn't hear any more from him for a couple of years until he came by and said 'Maybe there's something I can do with those recordings! He paid me $200 and the next thing I know my bossman came by with an album on Arhoolie. I'd have to say that George was the man that brought me out of the woods. Then I started getting plenty of calls for work!'

Burnside, whose first recordings appeared on Arhoolie 1042, Mississippi Deltt:J Blues Vol. 11, presented him with other Delta contemporaries Rosa Lee Hill and Joe Calicott. Although the album couldn't be considered a "best seller" by anyone's gauge, it was an interesting example of Delta Blues played in the traditional slide guitar style and it managed to find its way to the right places as far as R.L. was concerned. By the late Sixties he was being invited to blues and folk festi· vals far and wide.

"The first call I got was from Montreal:' recalls Burnside. "They wanted me to come and play Man & His World (a summer amusement park which once hosted the 1967 World's Fair). That was the first time I got to meet people like John Lee Hooker and Lightnin' Hopkins. I saw Roben Lockwood there too, but I'd been knowin' him since when he played with Sonny Boy over in Hel· en a!'

By the early Seventies, Burnside had made the first of many of his numerous trips to Europe. "I wouldn't have thought people over there would like the blues:' he says. "They can't understand a word you're singing, but it seems like they go for the blues more there than they do here.

"Next time I go over in September it will be for five weeks. We'll be playing in Germany, Italy, Greece, Sweden, Holland and Yugoslavia. I've ·

1st Prize ~f~:S!~o 1s different countries now playin' the

$1 00 Over the past few years Burnside has been extensively recorded by a number of labels,

2nd Prl• ze including Vogue in England, Swingmaster in Hol­land, and back home by David Evans at Highwa-

7 5 ter Records. "I usually get $500 for the records

$ plus a royaltY,' specifies Burnside. "Most of those records from Europe were cut live so we didn't

,, 1\. ·ssoC. 3 r d prize even go in the studio. Some of the things I did for oP\-\., '"' Highwater were with my family band. My sons

~ o'{S\R Ncf\\ $25 play with me back in Coldwater, they can pia}

M\JSC\J0~ D RAll '{.,. B~o·.30 ,A..M~j~~ii~~~a~r=: rock 'n' rolland disco too. rm still trying to write R '"' . .,.\ON A' A-, a few things, but it seetftS-tttre-~!f5-!NfEief-i~----a

• \ ,-. grow old.

~========~~~.~~~~/\.~'~'~~~~·~~~ ;~;;~~~~~v~~~~==~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We catch fish in the 'Thlahatchie and sell them door to door. But I can1t make the kind of money fishin' as I do going away to play music. But it's a hard life playin' blues, it keeps me away from home!' [

..

24 WAVELENGTH/AUGUST 1985

a 'd

e "I ld

r~ or

~n ~s,

~1-a­ds ~se ~·t

~"or ns ay te

s I

WAVELENGTH BACK ISSUES

-

. .. .. :·" .

D .. No.3 . . The Cold, Tony Dagradi, WWOZ, George Porter & Joy­ride, Patrice Fisher

D . . No.7 . . Neville Brothers, Walter Washington, Dave Bartholo­mew, Roy Brown, New Leviathan, Ron Cuccia

D .No. 10 .Roy Brown, Larry Williams, James Rivers, Larry the Punk, Musicians' Union, Beach Music

D .No. 11 .R'n'R Special Section, King Floyd, Festivals Acadiens, Lois Dejean, Peter Tosh

D .No. 12 .George Finola, Danny Barker, Frankie Ford, Lenny Zenith, Irving Mclean, Dr. John's "Morgus"

D .No. 14 .Mr. Google Eyes, Henry Butler, Chief Pete of the Black Eagles, the AFO Story, New Orleans Band Guide

D .No. 16 .AI Johnson, Bourre, Marching Bands, the state of rock in New Orleans, Jonkonnu Festivals, Blue Vipers

D .No. 18 .Baton Rouge Bluesmen, Earl King, Bob Tannen, Luther Kent, Rockabilly, Roulette, Lazy Lester

D .No. 20 .Texas Bands, Bo Diddley, the Aubry Twins, Mason Ruf­fner, Mathilda Jones, Red Beans and Rice Revue

D .No. 22 .Lee Dorsey, Cousin Joe, Earl Palmer, the Tipitina's Story, Sexdog, the Valiants, Zebra

D .No. 23 .Zachary Richard, Floyd Soileau, Boogie Bill Webb, Festi­vals Acadiens, Storyville Stompers

D .No. 24 .George Schmidt, Slim's Y Ki Ki, Ellis Marsalis, the Mod­els, Allegra

D .No. 25 .NOCCA, Germaine Bazzle, Kush, Valerian Smith, Swamp Pop, WTUL

0 .No. 26 .Chuck Carbo and the Spiders, Christmas Records, Zebra, Harold Potier

D .No. 27 .1983 Band Guide, Big Bang, John Fred, Carla Baker, the reissue issue

D .No. 28 .Louis Armstrong , Carnival Knowledge, Professor Longhair, Spirit Red, Junkanoo 1983, Backbeats.

D .No. 30 .Louisiana Hayride, Windjammer, Mike Pellera, Margie Joseph, the Copas Brothers, Jazz Fest Preview

D .No. 31 .Olympia Brass Band Centennial, Robert Parker, Lonnie Brooks, Jack Dupree, Jazz Fest Picks

D .No. 32 .Sam McClain, Ralston Crawford's New Orleans, AI Fer­rier, Art and Physical Culture

D .No. 33 .Lee Allen, Earl Stanley, Gulf Shores, Blasters D .No. 35 .Ivan Neville, Lenny Zenith, Festivals Acadiens, Aztec

Camera. D .No. 37 .Vance DeGeneres, Juke Joints, Dr. Daddy-0 , Charles

Blank, Hungry Williams D .No. 38 .Mint Condition Jazz, N.O. Christmas Records, Guitar

Slim, Bernadette Karrigan, James Booker, Steve Masa­kowski

D .No. 39 .World's Fair, Shirley Goodman, Ellis Marsalis, Spirit World

D .No. 40 .Women in Music in N.O. and their Family Tree, Marcia Ball, Wynton Marsalis, Band Guide 1984

D .No. 41 .Making Mardi Gras, Mardi Gras Records, the Case Against Carnivat, N.O. Music in Film, Sugar Boy Craw­ford

I have marked the issues I'd like to have. Please send me ____ magazines at $4.00 each ($5.00 for each copy mailed outside the U.S.)

I have enclosed $ ____ U.S. funds only.

, Mime __ ~-------------------=~-~~~~---I I

~--~~~-~~~---------------------~------------

~----------------------------------------------------­~·---------------------------~~ -------------------------WAYELS.TH, P.O. Box 15667, New Orleans, La 70175

EVILLE BRO T ·aLIAS JOHNN ADA

ER A I GTON IATO ·MIGHTY C AR. TS & THE HER

LOS OF CHRIST (BEST OF G L • HE DYNAMICS TH FAMI Y & T E.. VON L YO TH CHORU E

S · GOSPEL) • PU E LIG T BAP I ST C U CH AS CH IR & T E FA

· . I N S (BEST 0 , p ) 0

;rhe Leader in Music Programming Cox Cable New Orleans, 2120 Canal, New Orleans, LA 70112

I z a:: w Cl

~ w

~

i ~

By Allison Brandin

Dreams of Paris Those who chase dreams often find themselves here, even occasionally a musician from New Orleans.

E ach afternoon a Parisian classroom is filled with people of a fascinating array of nationalities, all there with the hope of learning to speak French, New Orleanian

Arthur McLin, Jr., among them. The professeur Beatrice (Aunt Bee, as she has fondly been dubbed behind her back by the Americans in the group) fires out a question in machine gun French. "Qu'est-ce que vous faites?" she asks, eyeing her

victims, normally intelligent, articulate adults now reduced to childlike gibberish. "Artur ... :• she waits. Determinedly he responds with a slow American twang, "Je suis musician, je joue du trompette!' Ah, voila!

Those who chase dreams are very often led to Paris. The French class above seems a representa­tive slice. The beautiful, blonde Scandinavian model, a pepper-tongued Bostonian photogra-

pher, an L.A. make-up artist, and McLin, th Southern jazz musician, are all searching. Fa each of these people, the reasons for the magi~ draw of Paris are undoubtedly different, bu Arthur's quest for Paris was· clearly a matter o fulfilling what his resume states as his "immediat objective": "I would like to further my knowledg of contemporary music through advanced stud at a conservatory or under an accomplished corr poser!'

And that is exactly what he is doing now. Pre! ently a student at the Conservatoire International De Musique, he is studying with perhaps one c the most important classical composers of the da: Piotr Moss.

One may wonder why McLin has chosen Par instead of the larger commercial music centers c New York or Los Angeles. For him the choice w~ obvious. Paris is renowned for its experiment: and avant-garde classical and jazz movement~ particularly the works of early 20th century corr posers Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsk· Each are heroes to McLin, because he is esp1 cially interested in the expenmental, specificall the combination of jazz and classical. But becam he pursued the avant-garde (though he states "M music is for everyone, there are beautiful melodi< and it's not too far out or strange") he felt he mu: leave New Orleans. "There is so much talent thet' but no outlet for anything new!' Feeling no ang< now, but perhaps regret, he would like to lear enough to return some day to the city he loves, 1 help lead the city to new musical heights. As < now he is working on a symphony of four mov· ments with elements of classical and jazz entitl( Impressions of Paris. Under the watchful eye< Moss he is fine-tuning his talents as a compose And, according to Moss, a young, buoyan expressive man, ''Arthur has talent because he an excellent musician, he loves to write, and he h: a lot of feeling!'

For McLin it is a feeling of relief and happine to be pursuing his ultimate goal of becoming ~ accomplished composer. Certainly he is already masterful, talented craftsman on the trumpet, ~ absolute necessity if one wishes to compose clas~ cal or jazz. Now 35, he has been playing since tl first time he heard Harry James on the radio 1958. "When I heard that song the sound thrill< me, and I knew I was destined to play trurnpe1 He has since accumulated vast work and perforr ance experience, from playing in the revered S Augustine Purple Knights Marching Band in tl mid-Sixties to making a world tour with the B.J King Orchestra in 1980. He has also recorded at performed with many other well known artists well as having taught music for eight years. An always seeking to advance, he has been in tl process of pursuing his master's degree in Mu~ Composition at the University of New Orleans.

Now he plans simply to compose and stu< after years of having worked as teacher, bus driv and performer. He has the desire to only play t own music though at this point how his work w be judged is left to Fate. However, her fickle fing always has a string attached, usually a pur string, and McLin, who has a 10-year-old son at child support to pay, sadly must soon discontin1 his studies and return to the States for a f( months of money-making. Keeping his mind <

seeing his son, Arthur III (who, he proud announces, has just received a medal for superi trumpet playing), and thoughts of his inevitat return to Paris, prevents his spirits from sinkii too low. Having progressed more in the last twel weeks under Moss than during his entire stay U.N.O., there is no doubt about his being in Pai for the fall semester.

From there may the inspiration of Debussy 01

Louis Armstrong be with him.

' "' -f

' , ..... -.

The Negro is generaYy crediied with having introduced into the Americas the banjo and the marimba. Today's American banjo may claim ancestry to its counterpart, the Afri­

wambee, a banj6!1ike instni'ittent of the She-. tribe, and the less similar ibeka and harp of Bakalai. The marimba of the Balonda tribe is

constructed on the same musical principle as the South American instrument of the same name. The Portuguese traders of Angola used the native marimba in their dances, which fact might accowu for its introauction and later popularity in the countries of South America.

The African, passionately fond of his folk and the tales and songs of his griots, called into use at play and at labor, and his

- which later became the symbol of virility of American labor - had their origins

the jungle clearings of Africa. It was observed inAfrica: .

••rr'PmJ,Pnr.tv •• toil is Jightened, from being per­by the whole village in common, when it less a scene of labour than a gay festival .. .

village musician plays the most lively airs; the •uuww"Pr:~ keep time to his tune; and a spectator at

rw:t'nnt'P would suppose them to be dancing ofworking. ·

any of the slaves brought with them their ..... -·-··'· ··music, and their masters, quick to sense the

••u•ra111.a~;•·" to be gained from happy and con­slaves, frequently encouraged this talent. imported into Louisiana from Africa and

West Indies displayed unusual talent in the use the drum in their dances, and many of them

duced their own native instruments and ~•rnt~v,Prt them proficiently. Under American Domi­

..&ttl ... '"v" the slave fiddlers were import~nt mPf11bers the slave coffles marching to Louisiana and

services were called upon in the auction to distract the minds of those who were to

sold. The love of music followed the slaves and with

granting or purchase of freedom, music a part of the culture of the free colored

and was encouraged through succeeding •'""'''ti . The services of free colored musi­

were very much in demand in New Orleans gaiety and the dance were largely mixed

everyday life. Prior to, and during the early of American Domination, there were "few musicians" to be found in New Orleans. But or six Bohemians or people of color, who

their violins with all their might;' could be seen at the many balls given in the city, dancers danced quadrilles to the "squeaky " of violins. In such an atmosphere of

h and leisure the free colored people of the .-.nrnmrm· inclined towards music, and some of

became the leading musicians and compos­of antebellum days. The influence that they

upon the Creole music of their day lasted after the Civil War. Grace King seriously

.nnnht,,n whether anyone "bas ever known the full and inspiration of the dance who has not to the original music of a Macarty or a

Bares:' Many of these compositions, based love, Carnival, and other themes, were often

after or dedicated to some white or free belle of the city, or to some intimate male

or patron. A more solemn note is found in Masses. of Samuel Snaer. Although gen~rally

in the antebellum period, the birthdays of of the leading free colored composers wer.e so

years apart that the youngest of the four,

original manuscript for "Musicians" is part the Marcus Bruce Christian Collection in the

and Manuscripts/Special Collections Earl K. Long Library, University of

Orleans.

-.

Bares, was born 25 years after Macarty, the eldest. But they are treated here as contemporaries due to the fact that the beginning of one composer's period of productivity is overlapped by the decline ofanother. .

Victor Eugene Macarty was born in New Orlean~ (1821-'!), a member of a wealthy free col­ored family. He was an excellent composer, poet, singer, orator and politician. He was a friend and admirer of Natalie Populus, the granddaughter of Savary, free colored hero of the Battle of New Orleans. To her be dedicated his poem La Fleur Indiscrete, appearing in the New Orleans Tribune of July 22, 1866. In his youth Macarty studied the piano under Professor Nores. He was later sent to Paris to continue his studies at the Imperial Con­servatoire in 1840, and while there applied himself to the study of vocal music, harmony and compo­sition. His best known roles as an actor were those of Anthony in the play of the same name and Buridan in La ·Tour de Nes/e, both by Alexandre Dumas . Macarty was drawn into the popular issues of the Reconstruction Era, and being an excellent speaker, soon became a familiar and highly esteemed orator in the interest of Negro rights. He held several positions of trust under Radical administrations, among them was the position of City Administrator, to which be was appointed by Governor Warmoth in 1869. Proba­bly due to his varied activities, Macarty's musical output was far below many of his contemporaries, and only a few of his compositions are available today. Among these are Fleurs de Salon, contain­ing two separate compositions, (1854) La Caprifo­lia and Z.:Azalea.

Edmond Dede', author of Louisiana}s more brilliant free colored composers, was born in New Orleans (1829-1903). He learned to play the clari­net in his youth, and later studied the violin under th~ able free colored musician, Constantin Deber-

- >

•. ' • i •

que, a· teacher of great skill, and one of the con­ductors of the "Philharmonic SocietY,' an antebellum organization consisting of more than 100 white and colored amateur musicians. After studying under Mr. Deberque for some time, Dede continued his musical studies under L. Gabaci, who was at one period of his career chief of the St. Charles Theater Orchestra. Saving the money earned from his trade as cigarmarker, Dede took passage for France in 1857, was granted an audi­tion, and later studied at the Conservatoire de Musique de Paris. He was later appointed director of the orchestra at the Theatre I' Alcazar of Bor­deaux, and held this position with honor for more than 27 years. He married a French woman and spent his life in France, although his decende_nts returned to New Orleans and are still living in the city. He was very popular, "of unmixed negro blood;' bad a very fine appearance, and anamia­ble disposition.

Dede returned to New Orleans in 1893, and gave several concerts that excited much attention among music lovers of the city. The music critic of L'Abeille was enthusiastic in his praise of the vio­lin technique of the aging maestro. He died in Bordeaux in 1903. Even'wbile attending school in New Orleans, he was noted particularly for his playing of the ~tudies of Kreutzer. A partial list of his compositions include the Quasimodo Sym­phony, Le Serment de eL'Arabe (written while in Algeria), two romances, entitled Patriotisme and Si.j'etais Lui, Valliant Belle Rose Quadrille, and Le Palmier Overture. Desdunes says that be "composed thousands" of compositions of this type- "not counting his dances, and ballets:' He had begun work on a grand opera, Le Sultan d'ls­pahan, that was interrupted by his illness and never finished. 0 Next month: Lucien Lambert, Basile BareS, and Samuel Snaei:

Marcus B. Christian Marcus B. Christian (1900-1976), sometimes

hailed as the poet laureate of New Orleans' black community, wrote "A History of Louisi­ana:' an unpublished manuscript that grew out of his participation in the WPA Federal Writ­er's Project. He later became director of its Dil­lard University Unit. The essay "Musicians" is an appended chapter to the 1,000-page manu­script.

"Musicians" concerns itself mainly with the contiibutions of Africans and colored Creoles to the development ~f music in New Orleans. The essay ends with a short discussion on CharleS "Buddy" Bolden, Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, and Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Mor­ton.

Christian, an extraordinary man of letters, has basically gone unrecognized and unappre­ciated . . In an age when the young are cynical, Christian is a shining exaple of a self.,created man, working hard against the odds. He was not college t~ed, yet he was a diligent and thorough researcher. _ Coming to New Orleans at age 19 near pen­niles~ Cliristjan went to night school, taliaht hi-lfjo write and research. ancl ~~ed a book of pOems by· age 22. Later, _·'- imd essays were published in major Journals such as Crisis, Opportunity, Louisiana Weekly. Item/ Tribune and Times/Picayune. In an effort to write and publish, Christian also corresponded with W.E.B. DuBois, Sterling Brown, Pauli Murray and Langston Hughes.

In a diary note, Christian sketches out the character of a young man for a poem. This

description of youthful idealism is seemingly autobiographical: "He bade farewell to his friends and went away to place his young body upon the rack as a sacrifice in a so-called War for Democracy, that he went among his friends collecting ideas and data in the cause of Ameri­can poetry. From house to house he went, like a man seeking truth in a great city!'

According to 1bm Dent, in his article "Mar­cus B. Christian: A Reminiscence and an Appreciation" (Black American Literature Forum, Sp '84), Christian lived "in virtual pov­erty" in the Fifties and Sixties. Joe Lodgson, a historian, searched Christian out and with the help of others facilitated his employment at UNO as historian and poet. "For tlte first time;• Dent writes, "Christian, now in his 60s, had an adequate income, an office, and for the first time since the Dillard days, contact with students and other scholars!' Christian had been working as a part-time printer, and for the Times/ Picayune as a delivery man.

In November 1976, Christian collapsec;J in a classroom at U~O,Jfe died a few weeks..r at Charity Hos~/flis - fatni,IY :rele. , i-bis paperS to the~· . .J - ,

Most of the~~~· · to~}-n~uSciipts and poems have never . blished. Yusef Komunyakaa and I are ing on these papers to prepare them for pu eation so that Marcus Christian can receive, though posthu­mously, the critical attention and appreciation he deserves as one of the great men of letters of New Orleans.

-Rudolph Lewis

I··

.. ~ •. . • .

.. ~· .

, I

r

..

I I

C) a: w m z w en ~ ~ z ~ 0

CONCERTS Saturday, 3 Kooland the Gang, City Park Stadium.

Friday, 9 The Artie Shaw Band, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. a fitt10g place for the umt cf the elegantly spoken, much marned Shaw who was supremely underrated as a musician (maybe because he unleashed Tony Pastor on the world); 9 p.m.

Tuesday, 13 John Cafe, Composer, smger. vtolist, protege of Aaron Copland, former-one-quarter of The Velvet Underground and perenmally provocative aesthete, at Jimmy's. •

Saturday, 17 An Evening Under The Ons, at Oak Alley Planta· lion up in the not-so-wilds of St. James Parish; with John Bergeron, Cajun humorist Johnny "Uncle Noon" Hoffman. A benefit lor the Oak Alley Foundation, there will also be an open house, deluxe bar and cajun fOOd; $25. Informa­tion at 265·2151, 523·4351. or 446-6559.

Sunday, 25 Candlelight RIB Review Fundralser, w1th the Evans-Supenor Booster Club featuring the Carolyn Craft Williams revue; Prout's, 728 N. Claiborne, 7:30 p.m. Sponsored by Pie Produc­tions; t1ckets are $2 in advance and $4 at the door. Information at 283-4746 or from Linda Hill at 899-9641

Wednesday, 28 • Tile Golden Boys of B111dstlnd, featuring an awesome (is there a better word?) trio of beefed­up Philadelphia Cream Cheeses in the persons of Fr~nkie Avalon, Fabian and Bobby Rydell , about all of whose ltalianate·revival charms there is no need to embroider; at the Hibernia Bank Pavilion at Audubon Zoo; information at861-2537.

Saturday, 31, and Sunday and Monday, September 1 and 2 Under The Oaks In' Waggaman, the JC's Muscular Dystrophy Benefit, featuring more than 30 bands, including Lee Dorsey, Irma Thomas. Mason Ruffner. Doug Kershaw. Deacon John, J.D. Hill and the Jammers. the Radiators, Teaser. Silurian. etc. Information ~31-7976.

CONCERT SERIES Brown Bag Concerts, in Lafayette Square, 11 :30 a.m. to 1 p.m .• Wednesdays. Call the Arts Coun­cillor schedule 523-1465. A Saturday festival is also scheduled for some time during the month

30 WAVELENGTH/AUGUST 1985

French Market Concerts, schedule unavailable. but always Saturdays and Sundays at midday ~nd reverberat10g until around sundown.

FESnVALS FestiVals are i1sted as follows: the date followed by the name of the festival. 1ts locat1on. and the phone number and/or address of the contact.

Friday 2 through Sunday 4 Seventh Annual Mandeville Seafood Festival, Fon· tainebleau State Park, Fnday· Fats Dommo, with over forty varieties of frwts de mer ($10 admis­sion. Ticketmaster, 888-8181). Saturday: the Radiators, Creole Cookin', and J.J. Muggier Sunday- Irma THomas, Lee Dorsey and Atchala· laya (admission $1 on Saturday and Sunday); the fruits de mer continue throughout.

Friday 9 through Sunday 11 South Lafourche Seafood Festival, Galliano. (504) 632-4633.

Wednesday 14 through Sunday 18 Dellclmbre Shrimp Festival, Oelacambre. (318) 685-2653 or 364-0780

Friday 23 and Saturday 24 Blue Grass Festival, Quitman (318) 259·9588.

Wednesday 28 through Monday, Sept.2 Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival, Morgan City. (504) 385-0703.

Saturday, 31 Southwest louisiana Zydeco Festival, Plaisance. (318) 232·7672, Columbus Celebration, Bossier City. (318) 746·7958.

OUTTATOWN September 14 and 15 13th Annual San Francisco Blues Festival, at Ft. Mason Great Meadow in S.F .• from noon until6 both days: among the roll call of those present we emphasize John Lee Hooker, Bonnie Raitt, Big Joe Turner, Oils Rush and Queen Ida; information in writing from 573 H1ll Street, San Franc1sco, CA 94114; by telephone from 415 826·6837

September 19 through October 20 Twenty-two artists from the Arthur Roger Gallery will have the1r work exhibited at the Exhibition Space 10 Soho on the above dates (not since the Treasures of the Herm1tage. etc .. etc.). gOOd ex· posure for the art1sts. gOOd stuff lor the lucky Knickerbockers to pop an eye at. Included in the traveling show are a monumental glass sculpture

by Gene Koss and a 10' installation by Gerald Cannon We wonder what those bnght folks on the Upper Lower East Side will make of Dub Brock's w1stena-hystena .. but not too deeply. The New Orleans headquarters of alllh1s at 3005 Magaz10e w111 stay open through the duration.

LIVE MUSIC ._ FRENCH QUARTER, MARIGNY & CBD Andrew Jackson Restaurant, 221 Royal St . 529-2603. Saturdays at m1dnight. the tenac1ous triumvirate of Becky Allen. R1cky Graham and Fred Palm1sano-but cons1denng the problems these three have had lately w1th the mortality rate of cabarets , call before you go. Artist Cafe, 608 lberville. 523-9358. Call tor list­Ings Bayard's Jazz Alley, 701 Bourbon. 524-9200 Thursdays-Sundays: Jazz Unlimited Group Blue Room, 10 the Fa1rmont Hotel. 529·7111 Danc10g, d10mg. ch1c and eclat. Through Tues.13: Rare Silk Wed.14 through Tues.20: the handsome Kenny Rankin, From Wed 21: The Ink Spots. and shoot the butter to me. Bess1e. . don 'I get messy. Reservations. Bonaparte's Retreat, 1007 Decatur. 561·9473 Music changes daily-walk by and check Brew House, Jackson Brewery. Decatur St . 525·9843 Call lor August 10tormahon Cajun Country, 327 Bourbon. 523·8630. Tues.-Sun: the Gela Kaye Band alB. Mon -Wed. Mike Casc1o. Coslmo's, 1201 Burgundy, 561·9018. Jazz on Sundays and occasionally on Wednesdays; call the bar lor information. Dream Palace, 534 Frenchmen. 943-6860. Thursdays: Fantastic Films (see Cinema list10gs lor same). Sal.10 and Sat 31: The Radiators (weren't they those guys w1th nets and three­pronged spears and weird hats that looked like old hOOd ornaments who fought lions and pan­thers 10 the Roman Circuses? no?). The rest of the month is conJectural Fairmont Court, 1n the Fairmont Hotel, 529· 7111. Mon ·Sat .. from 9, G1nny Chehardy. Famous Door, 522 Bourbon, 522-7626. Thurs· days through Tuesdays from 8. Thomas Jeffer­son and h1s Creole Jazz Band . Mondays through Fridays. 10 until 2: the Brenda Bergman Duo. Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, 4 untiiB p.m : Mike Casc1o. Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4 until 8 p m . the Buddy Ingram Duo. Oliver and the Rockets appear daily at 2 Saturdays and Sundays, from 2 until 8 p.m .. M1ke Casc10 and the Just Us Band. Wednesdays from 8 until 2. French Quarter Talent N1ght FeeHngs, 2600 Chartres. 945·2222 . Thurs.-Fn .. Kenny Ard. Saturdays Harry Mayronne. Mon ·Wed .. Kenny Buller. 544 Club, 544 Bourbon, 523·8611 Wed ·Sat.: Gary Brown and Feelings CMS from 9 to 9 Fndays and Saturdays and from 9 to 3 other evemngs Pete Fountain' s, 10 the Hilton. 523·4374 Pete Fountain and h1s band nightly at 10 one show only. reservations. • Gazebo, 1018 Decatur, 522-0862 Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m .. The P11ster S1sters who might at this particular moment 10 t1me be doing on-site research for a remake of the tune

" Old Cape Cod" in wh1ch (gasp!) all them will play Palll Page, if they can money together lor enough cases of Amasa M1ller IS the1r continual continuo; to 6 p.m., John Royen and New Orleans Fridays and Saturdays. 8 to m1dn1ght. Nora ted Hyatt Hotel, 561-1234. Sundays, 10 a p m .. Chuck Credo and the Bas10 Street the Courtyard Restaurant. Fndays, 4·8 the Mint Julep Lounge, Bobby Cure Summertime Blues. Jaxlest, Jackson Brewery, Decatur St. from 4 to 7 p.m .. programs in a series mus1c. Aug A: Taste of New Orleans. gospel extravaganza. Aug 18. the Cajun Aug.25 Taste of New Orleans. Landmark Hotel, 541 Bourbon. 524·7611 ly Wednesday through Saturday from 9 a m.. P1zzazz. In the P1ano Bar: Wednesdays, Thursdays· Bob Sloane at piano from 5 unlit 9. followed by Mike Bunis ing R&B; Tuesdays. Bob Sloane from 8 a m. : Fndays, Saturdays and Sundays: Bums from 4 unlit 9. succeeded by the Ellis Quartet who cont10ue on unhl 2 or Maison Bourbon, 641 Bourbon, 522-881 bands alternate, 2 daily, 3 on '~""n~.v-• Lambert and the New Orleans Jazz Liberto Band and Lou S10o and the Marriott Hotel, 581-1000 Tues. p.m . Jeanne D'Avray in the R1ver V1ew ----.......... . Mahogany Hall, 309 Bourbon. 525· days through Saturdays, the Dukes of three shows nightly beg10ning at 9 TBA. Maxwell's, 400 Burgundy, 522·0879 list10gs Old Absinthe House, 400 Bourbon. Weclnesdlil Sundays: Bryan Lee and the Jumpstreet Mon.· Tues.. Mason Ruffner and the Rockers . Old Opera House, 601 Bourbon. 522-3265 lor list10gs. Preservation Hall, 726 St. Peter, Sun. Harold De1an and the Olympia Brass ...... 111n.ob•

Mon and Thurs: K1d Thomas Valenhne. and Fn . K1d Sheik Colar Wed . and Sat .. Humphrey Brothers. Royal Sonesta Hotel, 300 Bourbon. ~oo·uJU•r;. Call lor current lineup. Ryan's 500 Club, 441 Bourbon, 525·7269 9. Mon ·Sat . the Ce1t1c Folk Smgers. Seaport Cafeand Bar, Thurs -Fn , 9 p m.-1 a and Saturdays from 10 p.m. until 1 a m . Townes Sat • 3·6 p.m. and Sun • 4 to 7 Sally Townes w1th D1ane and Zelda 711 Club, 711 Bourbon. 525·8379 Tues from 9 30, Randy Hebert. 1n the S Wed.·Sun .. 9 p.m ·2 am . AI Broussard m MaiO Bar Snug Harbor. 626 Frenchmen. Thurs.1. The Jazz Couners. Fn. Washington and the Solar System some Keplerian and Copermcan sw10g Earl Turb1nton and Tony Dagrad1. Sun Marsalis and Johnny Adams. Thurs.8 Eaglin. Fn.9: M1ke Pellera and Angelle Sat 10: A; Belleto. Sui111 · tba Snooks Eaglin. Fri 16: Ell1s Marsalis Tyler w1th Germaine Bazzle. Sat.17. """"'•~ Sun.18. tba. Thurs.22: Snooks Eaglin. Fusicians Sat 24· WWOZ benefit w1th the

Want some seafood, mama! Shrimpers and rl~e, they're very nice ... oh, you know the rest of lt. The ~ucky) 7th Annual Mandeville Seafood Festival, Fri.2 through Sun.4.

Richman, ne Jonathan, the slyest naif working in

ru~;i:41111n;lc Today, Aug.3t at Jimmy's. 1100 Decatur. 525·8199 Live jazz

~"c'dY~··•tllllnll'l. save for the nrghts of Aug.5·16 when the wrll be closed Fri.2 and Sat.3: buddrng rap Ernre K·Doe (rt srmply tsn t true that he's go· to call hrs new group Run D&C). Sat.17.

esctaVSi·•Tlt"" through Sat.24, and Thurs 29 through J~ckre Jones

DeLago, Wesl End Park. Rock and roll of sorts. Fn.2 through Sun.4 Rarnstreet. . The Edge Fri 9 through Sun 11.

uT":;•~tOIJe , and Upstarrs on the Star·Lrte Terrace Fn 16 through Sun 18: Perfect Strangers.

tra1hng rts tendnls around upstairs. through Sun 25 Classiheds. wrth the

"·~-•~"'' Twrns above. Fn .20 through Sun .. Sept. Lane, wrth Murmers upstarrs (rs that like that play. Vo1ces Off?) .

Bounty, 1926 West End Park. 282·9144. lor August hstrngs.

· 1922·A West End Park. 282·9138. R.L . Burnsrde. 6200 Elysian Fields. 288·3440. Fndays

unlit 10. Jackre Jones and Davrd •rcnanowsk~ allernate sets wrtll Chns Severn

Garcra . Late sets Fnday and Saturday:

6207 Franklin Ave • 288·5550. New MIC. Thursdays: Force of Habit. Sat.3: Divrded ClllncH. Sat.1 0: Reality PallO. Sat.17. TBA. Sal.24. Exit 209 Sat 31 : Srberran Monk (I'Wilethmg like Srbenafl Husky?) with a 21-dagger salute to Rasputrn and the fall of the HrAISe of Romanov

Clllnca, 2301 N. Causeway Blvd .. 834·3105. Call for information l.lldllllrk Hotel, 2601 Severn Ave .. 888·9500 Tuesdays through Thursdays at 9, and Fridays lid saturdays at 10, the Creole Cookin' Jazz Band. lcAIIster's, 36t9 Fat City Avenue. 456·1525. llon.12: New Order; call tor the balance of the rronth whrch if we· re lucky may include Die Neue ~hbchkert and the New Drspensallon Slllwboat. 3712 Hessmer Ave .. 887·9682 Call u the month's listings.

MID-CITY

Clpps, 11 t N. Carrollton. 484·6554 Call for lsbngs. Cllinltown, 1717 Canal St., 525·7937. Fndays: Yretnamese music from 9. Other nights: Vor nllung chuong dac sac do cac nghe si thor danh " san FranCISCO. Los Angeles, Houston ... ve tnnh dren. Vor cac loal thus pham kho dac sac. Co ban va cho muon bang nhac. video tape, cassette.

Dorothy's Medalion, 3232 Orleans Ave. R&B. Fri. ·Sat.: Johnny Adams with Walter Washington and the House Band. Ike's, 1710 N. Broad, 944·9337. R&B. Sundays: Chuck Jacobsen and the Wagon Trarn Band. Parkview T1vem, 910 N. Carrollton, 482·2680 Music on Fridays only. Aug.2: The Ray Bon· neville Blues Band. Aug.9: J Monque'd Blues Band. Aug.30· Snakebite and the Cottonmouths. Call the PT for what occurs between.

~ N.O. EAST Beau Geste, 7011 Read Blvd., 242·9710 Fri. ·Sat .. 10·3. The Spice of Life The Club, 1701 St. Bernard, 947·9334 Jazz workshops every Sunday from 7 to 11

~UPTOWN Benny's, 938 Valence Street. 895·9405 Mon· days: J Monque'D Blues Band. Wednesdays. JD and the Jammers. Cynl Neville and the All Stars materialize weekly but that rs matter for phone calls and not for us. Carrollton Station, 8140 Willow. 865·9190. Mostly blues or blues-related. Sat.3: Paladrns. Fri 9. Lenny Zenrth and Scott Detwerler. Sat.10: R.L Burnsrde. Sat 17. Woodenhead. Fn.23' Paul Sanchez and Peccadrlloes. the latter of whrch are not somethmg ptclded in a Jar but oc· currences usually prefaced by the ad)echve 'shameless.' Fn 30 and Sat.31. Johnny J and the Hrtmen . Caronna's, 2032 Magazme. 523·8527. Call. rf you dare. Chez Trigg, 1825 Magazrne, 528·9898. Fndays and Saturdays at 10. Ralph Gibson and Steve Rohbock. Glass House, 2519 South Saratoga , 895·9279 Mondays: The Chosen Few w.th Tuba Fats. Jimmy·s, 8200 Wtllow, 866·9549 Thurs. I. Par· ty Bullets (rs thrs a sprnofl group from that record. ·Prom Queen s Got A Gun'?) Fn 2 Joe (He's The) Kmg Carrasco. Sat 3: Future ll'lage. Sun4. B.T 0 .. the greatest of all Ouebecors rock groups·to·make·rl·b•g. lingurstrc footnote. cor· rect pronunciation of the name rs. of course. "Beh·Tay·Oh." Mon.5· Textones. Thurs.8: Soctals. Fri.9 tba. Sat 10 Guess Who. Tues.13: John Cale, who, we·re mformed by Reliable Sources, drd a heavy-watershed versron of 'Heartbreak Hotel' on his last SOJOUrn on Willow. Wed.14. Rogues Thurs 15: lnsrght. Fn 16: Junror Walker and The AII·Stars who exhausts our thesaurus of superlahves both musical and dental. Sat . 17: A benefit tor WWOZ (and not thank goodness. another fund·rarser to meet the Brock Bros.· restrtutron payments) . Fn.23. Uncle Stan and Auntie Vera. Sat.24: Le Rio Brothers. Thurs 29: Insight. Fri '30: The Radiators . Sat.31: Jonathan Rrchman. creator·perpetrator of such sly faux naris as "Ice Cream Man. " " Abom· rnable Snowman In The Market • and "Egyptran Reggae " Maple Leaf, 8316 Oak. 866·9359 Wed : J. Monque'D. Thurs.: Bourre. Fri 2: The Radrators . Sat.3: Exuma. lues 6; R.L. Burnsrde. Fri.9: Rockrn' Dopste and the Twrsterz. Sat.10' Ann and Marc Savoy and another wwoz benefit (don 't let Ernre K·Doe's Chnstmas stocking, or supp·hose or Gold Cups or whatever he hangs up each Yule. go unfilled') . Sat.11 : Li' l Queenie and the Boys of Joy, Tues.t3· Terry Manuel. Fn.16: Anson Fonderburgh and the Rockets . Fri.23: Beausoleil. Sat.24: The Radiators. Fri.30: Killer Bees. Sat.31 Marcia Ball Nexus Uptown, 1700 Loursiana Avenue. A new club opening the end of this month on the quasi· historic site of the old Nitecap Lounge where, a dozen years or so ago, The Meters were the house band. Penny Post, 5110 Danneel. Sat .• Aug.17 at8:30 and Fri . Aug.30 at 10 Charmer. Sundays: Always open mike. Check the board as you go in. Pontchlrtr1in Hotel, 2031 St. Charles Ave .. 524·0581 . Piano bar in the Bayou Lounge nightly from 5. Tyler's, 5234 Magazrne. 891·4989. Modern jazz. Mondays: the Mrke Pellera Tno. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Leslie Smith and Co Wednesdays: Ellis Marsalis and Germarne Baz· zle. Fridays and Saturdays: James Rivers . Sun· days: Willie Tee.

~WEST BANK Bronco's, 1409 Romain, Gretna, 368·1000.

Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays. Mississrppi South. 1801 Club, 1801 Stumpf Blvd , 367·9670. Wed· nesdays through Saturdays: Janet Lynn and Ya Ya. Fit Clls, 505 Gretna Blvd .• 362·0598. Call tor lrstrngs. Weasey's, 1610 Belle Chasse Highway. 361·7902. Fifties, Sixties and Top 40 music featuring L.A Lightning and Bobby Cure and the Summertime Blues. Call for dates, times. whys and wherefores.

CINEMA Dream Palace, 534 Frenchmen. 943·6860. Thursdays at 8 p m .. Fantastic Films: Aug 1; Thmgs To Come, another William Cameron Men· zies film, thrs one from 1936 and written by H.G. Wells-there is too much of Raymond Massey rn a sort-of toga (remrndrng one somewhat of Ray· mond Duncan') speechifyrng and though the sets are pretty mad in a sort of fascrst·RadrrrCity way and there's a wild performance by Margaretta Scott as a barbarian chieftaness of sorts (and she looks it1); many famous names contributed to this-Arthur Bliss. Georges Perinal-and the cast ought to be good (Cedric Hardwicke. Ralph Richardson, Edward Chapman, Derrick de Marney) but things do extend themselves a brt. Aug.8: Armand Ruhlman Film Fesllval 12. Aug.15: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, not too bad just because rt · s so overloaded, with Lon Chaney as hapless Larry Talbot and Lugosi as Dracula (Glenn Strange wears the Jack Prerce putty monument as Frankenstern 's monster). though in terms of horror, it doesn 't match Ab· bolt and Costello wrth Martha Raye as twins in Keep 'Em Flymg. Aug 22: The Thmg From Another World, good, tense, cheap 1951 him about a murderous carrot (James Arness) thawed out at an Arctic research base after hrs saucer crashes-the prob~m here (despite rumors throug!\ the years that Howard Hawks and/or Or· son Welles had a hand in the d1rectron) is that the film was magnrtrcently remade a few years ago by John Carpenter. Strll thrs rs good basrc stuff and Charles Lederer's scnpt has a good brt of wit for thrs sort of thing; wrth Robert Cornthwaite as the megalomaniac (of course) SCientist, Margaret Sheridan who looks like a frazzled Joan Crawford at moments. Kenneth Tobey. the glorious Dewey Martin, and-rf you don't blrnk-Groucho's part· ner in cnme. George Fenniman.

Loyola Film Buff's Institute, 895·3196 .. Thurs.1: D1al M For Murder. thrs 1954 film rs not one of the better or even second-choice Hitchcocks. the stage machinery wheezes and John Williams walks about lookrng ·superbly omnrscrent and there's too much of Robert Cummings (more than three mrnutes is too much). but the scene where Grace Kelly jugs Anthony Dawson wrth the scissors is a lulu. even rf lost '" the claus· trophobic weller; with Ray Mrlland Tues.6: L 'Eiernel Retour. Jean Cocteau wrote thrs 1943 versron of the Tnstan and Isolde legend (whrch seems to have great attractions for decadent sen· srbrlities) and Jean Delannoy, a dependable hack, directed, we've not seen it, save for some curious shlls-1 think this was Cocteau's rnrlial use (hmmm) of Jean Marars who as has been pointed out, looked like the boys that Cocteau had been drawing for years-which look violent and Madelerne Sologne is weanng a sort of Vichy peekaboo and a great deal of mask·like makeup, and the prcture looks violent (it was attacked after the War tor its overtly Teutonic look and fatalism (which rs part and parcel of the legend)-butthen Guitry and Clouzot were bad· mouthed by patriots at the same time). Probably ought to be seen just for all of the above reasons. with Jean Murat. Yvonne De Bray (who played the obscenely neurotic mama in Les Parents Ter­nbles a half dozen years later). Thurs.8: The Wrong Man, this 1957 Hitchcock semidocu· mentary is one of his great films from this period (out Bressons Bresson), and it opens quite stun· ningly with a time lapse of a long night at The Stork Club where the wrong man (Henry Fonda) · plays bass in the band; he is arrested for an arm· ed robbery. is processed and charged. every· thing conspires to keep the truth from emergrng, hrs wrfe goes mad and then by accident (as Fon· da is praying, this whole sequence rs highly audacious) the real culprit is caught. The thorough and exact drabness seems to put parr pie off-a true story, filmed in many of the real locales. with unlikable characters tor the most

part and unpleasant events, but because Jt's) Hrtchcock film, the audience waits for sometlllag 0 playful and light, and they simply don't get It ...,. Wrth Vera Mrles, Anthony Quayle as the psychia·y \f. 1

trist,Harold J. Stone, Esther Mlnciott1. Films are o shown in Sobel Hall, on the third floor. usually at ~If?~ 7:30; admission is either by FBI season sub- "'-.'-.> '~-scription ($15) or $150 at the door. ·.ey

New Or1eans Museum of Art, City Park. 488·2631. Sun.4 at 2: Le Rouge et Je N01r. Claude Autant·Lara's 1954 transcnptron has some pretty chocolate box sets and costumes, and the late, lamented Gerard Phrhpe in one of the roles he was born to play-Stendhal's supreme opportunist Julien Sorel; but the ptcture grinds on and on. even though Antoneila Lualdi is in it, masochistic as always. Sun. t 1 at 2:45: Les M1serables, aQOther unfilmable French classrc, in its 1935 Fox incarnation. directed uninspiredly· prcturesquely by Rrchard Boteslawski; many have had a crack at Hugo's sublime monster -from the early silent spectacle of Capellanr in 1913 through the 50s version with Gabrn and Slier (according to Sadoul, there are Indian. Mexican, Japanese Egyptian and Russian ver· sions of Les M1serables as well) ; this version has a typ•cally bovine-playrng·feline number by Charles Laughton with very close cropped hair as Javert, and at least he's memorable-the .good people. Frednc March, Rochelle Hudson. Jo~.n Beat. are insufferably noble even for 19th century French proles. Sun 18: The Eamngs of Madame De .. , Max Ophuls' 1953 film which fleshes out the nearly schellldtrc Louise de Vilmonn novel about a pair of shoulder-dusters that make a full circurt through Parisran socrety to their ongmal owner. destroyrng her in the process (tht5 is. however. one of the few films where. when the lleroine dies of a broken heart, you believe it) is wrdely considered one of hrs greatest. Certainly it rs wonderfully acted and the balls and gowns and carriages and chandeliers never seemed more hke cenotaphs tor happiness and passion than they do here, butrs it all that great? Wrth Danrelle Darneux, Charles Boyer as the husband. Vittono DeSica as the lover Ua de Lea as the mistress: camera by Christian Matras. musrc by Oskar Straus and George Van Parys, Ophuls and Marcel Achard drd the script. Frlms are free with regular Museum admission . Prytania, 5339 Prytania. 895·4513 Fri 2 through Thurs.15: A Pnvate Funci!On. Frl.16 through Thurs.29: My New Partner .. Tulane, 865·5141. Films are shown in McAirster Audrtorium at 8 p.m. Sun.4· Once Uoon A Time In America, Sergio Leone's dynast:c gangster film whtch was cut to shards and then restored Wed.7 The M1sfits, this baleful blighted· pastora~ written by Arthur Miller and dtrected by John Huston contams the last performances of Clark Gable. as an old cowboy (supposedly his insistence on performing his own stunts helped kill him). and Marilyn Monroe as a divorcee-cum· hfe·force-people say so many dumb thrngs about her (nice things of course) and she has so many dumb life-force lines that Arthur Miller has often been reviled as a sadist who brought his domestic quarrels (and therr revenge) out Into the open. It is a curiously depressing film, though beautifully photographed in grand bleached-bone fashion by Russell Metty; with Thelma Rrtter, Eli Wallach as the guy who dropped the bomb on Hiroshima and has felt lousy about tl ever since, Montgomery Clift as a neurotic cowboy and Estelle Winwood, looking drolly reptilian as the lady from the Salvatron Army.

VIDEO ,. Bunny Mlltllews, on Cable Channel 2 Fridays at 5:30 (only in Orleans and Jefferson) and repeated at 10:30 in Orleans. proving himself the logical successor to Uncle Henry Dupre. Not to be missed for connoissreurs of local fauna at its most brzarrely contrived.

AUGUST 1HSIWAVELENGTH 31

FOR BOOKINGS CALL: ELIZABETH FONTAINE 838-8750

Party Ballet. Thurs. Aug. l

..Joe Kiag earn.co Friday 2nd

F•buclaage Saturday 3rd

Bachman Tamer Overdrive Sunday 4th

Textonea Monday 5th

Socials Thursday 8th

TBA Friday 9th

GaeaaWho Saturday lOth ~ohn Cale Tuesday)3th

Ro.-.. Wednesday 14th

._._ ... Thursday 15th

..Jr. Walker &: The AJI.Stan Friday 16th

WWOZ Beaeflt Party Saturday 17th

Uac:le Stan and A••tle Vera Friday 23rd

I.e Roi Bro.. Saturday 24th ._.,. ... Thursday 29th

Radlatorw Friday 30th

..Jonathan Ric:hman Saturday 31st

Coming Sept. 3rd .lcffrey Lee Plen:a ' (G•n Cl•b)

8200 WILLOW • CONCf.RT INFO 861-8200

32 WAVELENGTH/AUGUST 1985

Capetown To Uptown: The New Orleans-Apar­theid Connection. a locally produced video documentary on the South Afncan uramum trade will a1r Mondays through August at 9 p.m. on Cox Cable ChannelS. For more information about the show. created by graduates of the Commum­ty Access Corporation. call Lance Hill at 366·7009 The Chicago Jazz Festival, on WWNO 90·FM, Wed.28 through Sat.31 coverage on a tape· delayed basis Wed. at 10:30: Buddy R1ch . Mongo Santamana and the Joseph Garman Quartet. Thurs. at 10:30: Count Bas1e Sextet Reumon. a Salute to Charlie Parker w1th, among others, James MOody and Ira Sullivan Fri at 6:00: the lllino1s Jacquet B1g Band. Anme Ross and Jon Hendricks, Muhal Richard Abrams Quartet. Sat. at 7:00: Am1na Claudme Myers, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, the Count Bas1e Or· chestra directed by Thad Jones. Music City, m reruns through the summer. check EPG and maybe your EEG while you 're about1t. NOVAC, 2010 Magazme. 524·8626, offers continumg programs and classes 1n editing, camera operatiOn. etc. Call for mformatlon.

Rainin' In My Heart: A Blues Mosaic, Fn.2 at 8 on WLAE· TV. Cable Channel32. featunng Moses Wh1sperm' Sm1th on the harmon1ca. and Silas Hogan, Arthur GUitar Holly, Henry Grey. Tabby Thomas. Chns Thomas. Kenny Acosta. B.B. Bruce. Raful Neal and Buddy Guy.

ART A Gallery for Fine Photography, 5432 Magazme. 891-1002. Through Thursday 15: photographs by Aaron S1skind renowned for his treatment of Harlem life 1n the Fort1es and h1s stud1es of graf· hll. Aaron-Hastings, 3814, Magazme, 891-4665. Group shows through the warm months. Arts Council, 522·ARTS. a telephone number wh1ch dispenses mformai!On about local art events of some currency. Bienville Gallery, 1800 Hastings Place. 525-5889 Call for month 's shows. Davis Gallery, 3964 Magazme. 897-0780 New

' acqu1sit1ons from West Afnca. Duplantier Gallery, 818 Baronne. 524-1071. Mix­ed media works on canvas by Isabella Edmunson. Galerie Slmonne Stern, 518 Julia, 529-1118. An mventory sale (lost our lease? everythmg must go?) Gasper! Folk Art Gallery,. 831 St Peter. 524-9373 A group show of gallery artists latter Memorial library, 5120 St. Charles Avenue Through Nov.4: memorab11ia of silent him star Marguente Clark and her husband, fly­mg ace Harry Williams, who mhablled the house long before mov1es learned to talk and planes outstripped sound Longue Vue Gardens, 7 Bamboo Road. 488-5488. Fn.16 through Wed .21 : Over 200 pieces of pa1nted porcelam displayed by the New Orleans Porcelain Art Guild. Fri23 through Fri.30. Pamtmgs by Texas art1st Dalhart Wmd­berg. Louisiana State Museum, on Jackson Square and elsewhere. From Sun. 7 through the beg1nnmg of November Naturally LOUISiana. a show w1th botamcal watercolors by Margaret Stones, floral art by Sad1e lrvme. and a selection of painted v1ews from the Museum's collection: at the Mmt: Mardi Gras m New Orleans and New Orleans Jazz. two large and self-explanatory exhibits Mario VIlla Gallery, 3908 Magazme. 895-8731 A group show of gallery artists. New Orleans Museum of Art, C1ty Park. 488-2631 Through Aug.11. 19th Century Decor­ative Techmques m Glass. Through July: Japa­nese Fan Pamtings from Western Collections. From Sat 20 · The Art of the European Goldsmith: Silver from the Schroder Collection and The Grand Prix de Rome: Pamtmgs from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. 1797-1863, mcludmg worhs by ln­gres and a number of lesser pomp1ers. like Flan­dnn. Cabanel, Couture. Guerin and Regnault . On extended loan : the 1938 Euchanstic Conference Monstrance, a stupefying p1ece of work indeed. Group tours for the deaf the fourth Sunday of every month. Posselt-Baker Gallery, 822 St. Peter. Contem­porary patnllngs, pnnts. sculpture, drawings and fiber art by gallery artists mclud1ng Takeshl Yamada. Mala1ka Favonte. Lenore Fned. Adolph Kronengold, Jim Sohr. Jack Fontana.

Tilden-Foley, 4119 Magazme, 897·5300 group show of gallery art1sts mcludl Ke1th Sonn1er, Alison Barrows. Wirstrom. Panter and Shirley

Towering above the grimy and measley airwaves of a near-great Southern City, WWOZ-FM gives birth to a multiplicity of benefits this month.

THEATRE Bonaparte's Dinner Theatre, 1n the Quality 3900 Tulane Ave • 486-0625 Call for mance limes. Through August Harvey, Chase s famous fantasy about a middle-aged so and h1s six-foot-tall InVISible rabbit pal, the naturally-ensumg complications w1th asylum staff and the poor guy· s nvP.rhi'.AIII:tl sister_ Ethiopian Theatre, 2001 Lapeyrouse. The New Orleans prem1ere of Soldier's Play, through Sun.18. oerformanal Thursdays through Sundays at 8 p m Minacapelli's, 7901 S Claiborne. 888-Currently: The Kmg And I. whiCh seems to be a better show than one thought 11 (It s1mply killed poor Gert1e ~a ......... ._

desp1te the standard Rodgers and H~n~mP.r~­dose of corn syrup and d1g1talls. Rose Dinner Theatre, 201 Robert St . 367-5400 Through Sun 4: Oliver. about rible results of askmg lor a second gruel, an odd basis for a mus1cal , but th1s of the better mus1ca1s Based·On-A·Ciass1c what happened to Pnde and Pre1ud1ce!) Thurs.8 The Odd Couple, recently New York for Sally Struthers and R1ta Townhall, 642 N Rampart From Tues three weeks. No Ex•l by Sartre 10 a recondite translation by Paul Bowles: Reuven Levi Proctor. and presenting prem1ere theatncal presentatiOn of a ductive process its creator. Peter Mars. In The Dark Via the projectiOn of selected agamst a chemically treated backdrop con1unction w1th the mampulat1on of light, ages appear suspended in total darkness. decay before the aud1ence's eyes ' W1th Robert Moore and Mary Lynn McCollum as cin, Estelle and Inez. All performances s1gned. all tickets $5 Information and mance schedule at 245-2086 Theatre Marlgny, 616 Frenchmen. Call the theatre for schedule. Tulane, m the Lupin Expenmental Through Sat.10: Beth Henley's The cracher Contest. a comedy set in Rrl)~kn;l• Miss1ssipp1. In the Arena Theatre: Gretel. through Sat.3, a production for At Dixon Hall . Tulane Summer Lyric through Sun 4. Anme. about the little g1rl wore poker-chip monocles. AdmiSSIOn and formance mformai!On: the Henley play is save Mondays, w1th a 2 p.m matinee Tickets $10 ($9 for Tulane commumty c1t1zens): Hansel has a $3 865-5361 for performance limes: the Lync performances are at 8 p.m. save for p.m. matinee the last day of the run. tickets $7 and $10. w1th Information at 865-5269.

c

Hi w

HOT STRINGS Hire New Orleans· favOfile string group for your weddmg or party. Call 837·3633.

DRUM STUOIO Jazz drumming techniques and concepts. Tradi· IIOnallo avant·garde. Professional instructton by Connor Shaw. Call Drum StudiO, 523·2517.

Boogte Woog1e. Blues. R & B piano lessons. 486-3~20

SAXOPHONE PRIVATE INSTRUCTION Bas1c theory and playmg skills through 1m· prov1sat1onal jazz. All types of mus1c. e g .. jazz. reggae, classical. pop, etc. For more mformaiiOn call 469·9443.

DRUM STUDIO Classes for begmners. Ready. rudunents. in· troduct10n to drum set. Call fOf appomtment. The Drum StudiO, 523·2517

WANTED: BASS PlAYER Talent for totalitarian melodiC rock 'n' roll band. llldlo Brooklyn 367·7818, 529·2332.

L£AD GUITAR w1th energy, dnve and feeling, wants to form blues-based R & R band for fun and good mus1c. Jack 834·3854

MILES DAVIS CONCERT July 28. 1973. Loyola Field 11x14" and 16 x20" photos ava1lable exclusively at Casell Gallery. 818 cRoyal Street.

MEGA-SET 13-ptece Slingerland drum set like new with cases. new heads. spare pa,rts. will sell w1th or w1lhout cymbals and boom stands Must sell. Call Rob 861·0404 after 5:00

BASSIST AVAILABLE Expenenced and capable bassist/vocalist. lormerly w1th Bryan Lee. w1shes to relocate to N 0. Call Tony at (914) 668-7367.

Astrological Counseling Services. Discreet. 486·3520.

Jack M1reau1t. Astrologer. Unique-Reasonable. 522·9166

Guitarist seeks mus1ctans for mostly original band. Chns 524·5270

BLOCK, the Dutch blues mag. Dutch language but lots of photos as well as worldw1de listmgs of new blues albums m every 1ssue. Send $1 or 3 IRC's for sample copy. Yearsub (4 issues) is $8 (airmail delivery): Rien Wisse. P.O. Box 244. 7600 AE Almelo. The Netherlands.

BLUES AND RHYTHM-The Gospel Truth, published ten limes per annum, covering blues. R & B. gospel, vmtage soul. cajun and zydeco. Subscr. rate $13 per year worldwide (surface) and $22 worldwide (a1rmail) . 18 Maxwelton Close, Mill Hill. London NW7 3NA. England.

BLUE STREAK STUDIOS Run by Musicians, for Musicians

Otari Multitrack and Halftrack Linn Drum Yamaha OX 7 Synthesizer Digital Flanger. Chorus Up to 4 seconds digital delay Digital reverb

S25 hr. S I 50 day Studio Musicians Available

488-3976

THE PROBLEM WITH MOST RESTAURANTS IS ...

THE ONLY SERVICE YOU GET IS WITH YOUR TIP!

0 0 0 0

()

0

~~:~. ~- • 0 0

FOR FAST, PERSONAL SERVICE YOU DESERVE!

NOW SERVING BREAKFAST, LUNCH & DINNER

3001 MAGAZINE ST. 891·0997

AUGUST 11151WMfELENGTH 33

.. -··-·---~--------------------------------......,-----~

Lots of moments, good and awful, at the Live Aid concert, but one of the highlights for New Orleans music lovers

must be Branford Marsalis' moving set with Sting early on Saturday morning. With one-and-a-half bil­lion people watching, can we ever say that New Orleans jazz gets little exposure? The ex-Policeman, with Marsalis, will be in concert in New Orleans in September. (Remember: 1-800-LIVEAID)

Uncle Stan and Auntie Vera open­ing for Power Station last month, got a taste of the big time as pre­pubescent damsels almost mobbed the band afterwards. Saxophone player Elizabeth Bennett of USAV will open for the Sartre play No Exit produced by Reuven Proctor at

. Townhall, opening August 6. See Listings for details ...

Scott Goudeau was in fine form and fine company on his The Secret Life of Children, a jazz venture with Tony Dagradi, Mike Pellera, Jim Markway, Noel Kendrick, Mark Sanders and Jay Griggs. The work is available on cassette only through Broken Records, 5120 Perrier, NOLA 70115.

New Orleans and Louisiana stars abound at the Lone Star Cafe in New York this month. Those visiting the Big Apple include rJ'he ReBirth /Jazz Band, The Dirty Dozen, Katie Webster, The Bluesrockers, Irma Thomas, Johnny Adams, Tbe Golden Eagles, The Radiators ... Also on the road this past month were Fats Domino, who somehow managed to collapse a stage in Andora during "The Saints Go Marching In" while on his Euro­pean tour. Buckwheat Zydeco is ju~t back from the birthplace of North American culture - Canada­... Frankie Ford headed there too ... The Simien Brothers, a zydeco banad from Opelousa, played a number of dates in New England as well.

That's Dr. John on the Scot Tis­sue jingle - "Roll On and On~' Our man's really wiping up on those commercials ... The fine music club Bandanna's closed after a short­lived existence ... The CAC is accept-

ing proposals for the 1985-86 music program. Deadline is August 15 ... Ronnie Kole broadcast the first worldwide (over shortwave radio) New Orleans jazz concert. .. The Arts Council of New Orleans is now offering free legal services to artists and arts organizations (musicians count!) in need of legal aid but una­ble to pay for it. Call 522-ARTS.

New records department: Nuclear Hayride is the name of Johnny J's debut LP on Niteshade ... Kuumba Williams, ex-Winnipeg Blue Bomber and star of OneMo' Time, has a new 45, "I'm Fat and That's That:' a song written by T.J. Boulet, Johnny Allen's piano player ... Any­one with taste will rush out to get a · copy of "Milk Crate Takeover,' by Moose and The Mudbugs on Arf Arf Records. "Moose" Savage has the Jazz Festival record for worst sunburn (five years running) as well as closest imitation to Jessie Hill (two years running).

Is there anyone out there who doesn't know that heavy metalers Eddie Van Halen and Jimmy Page (I know the guy who lent him Muddy Waters records) were in town last month? Van Halen was here for

RAY FRAIISEII'S DRUM CENTER ~

SALES ... SEftVICE ... INSTRUCTION ALL MAJOR BRANDS e COMPETITIVE PRICES

e COMPLETE TEACHING FACILiTIES

2013 WILLIAMS BLVD. 466-8484

34 WAVELENGTH/AUGUST 1985

P.S. Mueller

1fi£ n£Dl~ FMl ONCf. lt6AIN /o 'JARN fHr Pu&W

the NAMM convention while Page was getting an eardrum transplant at Flint/ Goodrich . .. Where is J. Mon­que'D? Why do you ask?

Just as WTUL returned to the air last month, after being closed for building renovation, a destructive fire put them out of commission again. Damage to records and equipment hasn't been assessed as yet.

R.ounder producer Scott Bil­lington was recently appointed a Louisiana Colonel by Governor Edwards .. . Solomon Burke will be recording his upcoming Rounder album here this month as well... Walter Washington is now working weeknights as is Ironing Board Sam ... Ex-Upsetter Charles Con­nors has a new single on Keep A­Knockin' Records, "File Gumbo" / "Bony Maronie" . .. The aviatic Tad Jones will teach a course in New Orleans Rhythm & Blues at UNO this fall ... Catch Red Tyler Sunday evenings at Terrell's on St. Bernard Avenue for some really fine jazz ... Bobby Lacour performs weekends at Ike's Place on funky North Broad.

Annie Laurie and Mr. Google

Eyes . . . upcoming releases on the Swedish Mr. R&B label ... John Broven (South to Louisiana, Walk­ing to New Orleans) has launched a new publication along with ex-Blues Unlimited editors Cilia Huggins and Bez Turner. Juke Blues is its name and if you can send $13 to P.O. Box 148, London W9 lOY, England, you'll get a year's worth of some of the best British blues jour­nalism. First issue included an inter­esting story on Classie Ballou, the great Opelousas guitarist. . . Don't forget Blues & Rhythm, P.O . Box 2407, Hollywood, CA 90078 or Soul Bag (le magazine du blues et de Ia soul), 25 rue Trezel, 92300 Levallois­Perret, Paris, France.

Many interesting jazz books find­ing their way into the bargain bins of local book stores including Frederick Turner's Remembermg ~ong: Encounters with the New Orleans Jazz Tradition and William J. Scha­fer's Brass Bands & New Orleans Jazz ... Vic Trix and His Beat nix (remember Street Corner Jive?) still hold down the bandstand at Augie's ... Jo Ann Schmidt has left the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival staff ... Spencer Bohren is still playing in Florida.

What's Willie Tee doing these days?? ... Rockin' Dopsie has an entire new set of Cajun Twisters ... Clifton Chenier is opening his own nightclub near New Iberia soon­... Miami Vice is to use "TeU It Like It Is" from the Neville Brothers' Black Top LP on their premier epi· sode this fall . .. Arista Records has released a Lee Dorsey greatest hits package in their mid-line series ... Ace Records has re-released the first three Little Richard Specialty albums recently ... Gospel Heritage Records has just released New Orleans Gospel Heritage, a collec­tion of quartet recordings from the 1940s and '50s.

Oops, here's another new maga· zine, Soul Survivor, 421 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario M5V 2A5 . Their second issue featured Joe Tex, John Ellison, Tommy Tucker, and a Stax/ Volt story ... Allen Fontenot headlined the Cat­fish Festival in Des Allemands. 0

TELEVISIONS STEREOS

VCR'S BARD

the 'hn 1/k-da ~,Jes

ins its to

>Y, of

ur­.er­the n't ~ox

'JU/

Ia liS-

ld­of ck tg: ms la­ms lix till at

eft tge is

~se

an .... .vn •n­ike rs' pi­Las ,its

rst lty 1ge ~w

!C­he

~a ... en 5V ed ny

!lt­D

liT9§ -OFFKCKAL . New Orleans Music Awar-ds· Ceremony

November 30, 1985

Saenger T_heatre

Special Thanks

To Last Year's Award Winners. Lady B:J. Aaron Neville The Sheiks

~·

The Neville Brothers Carla Baker Wynton Marsalis Ra'diators Desire ~

Gatemouth Brown Allen Toussaint Bill Johnston Tracy Borges Donnie Taylor AI Taylor Fire Water

:1: '

Margie .Joseph Irma Thomas

Rocks of Harmony Porky ,Jones

Fats Domino B. Lewis

Ernie-K-Doe King Floyd

Jean Knight L. Lucien Edwards

Barry Mendelson AI Hirt

Nick Bazoo Kidd Jordan

New Orleans Music Awards, Inc. The. New Orleans Music Awards was initiated to pay tribute and honor to persons who have made outstanding

accomplishments in the music and communication industries. The Award will not only honor the top artists, but will provide national recognition as we promote The New Orleans Sound around the world.

I am highly honored and take great pride in being the Director of this organization. I am extenct'ing a special thanks to the first year's winners and committee members of The New Orleans Music Awards, Inc. friends and everyone who played a role in making this event a success.

I would also like to extend open arms to suggestions, membership, and co-sponsorship of the music industry, National Promotional Advertisment Agency and the General Public. '

I would like at this time to announce that we have chosen the Accounting Firm of Alexander Grant & Company to be the official balloting company to this year's Music Awards.

Ballots will be published in newspapers citywide.

. ·, Sincerely,

Edward J. Cross, III Director

'

:·························································································································~ . MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION i

• • • • • • • • • •

• • • • • • • • • •

DATE. ________________ __

\.

NAME ______________________________________________________________________ __

STREET ADDRESS ____________________________________________________________ _

CITY __________________________ ~TATE ___________________________ ZIP __________ __

NAME OF ORGANIZATION OR COMPANY------------------------------------------

OCCUPATION ____________ ~---------------------------------------------------

PRESENT POSITION -----------:-----------------------------------------------­

EMPLOYER~---------------------------------------~-------~-------OTHER _________________________________________________________ _

SIGNATURE _________________________________________________________ ,~-----------

• • • • • • " • • • . . .. • • • • • • • • • • • • •

• • • • • • • •

Membership Fee is ten dollars ($10.00) per person, twenty-five ($25.00) per Corporation, per year. Make your check or money order J)ayable to The New Orleans Music Awards, Inc. and mail along with this application to: The New Orleans Music Awards, Inc., 1240 So. Broad St., New Orleans, LA 70125. Attention: Edward J. Cross, III. Please submit your application as soon as possible. • • • ••••••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

KING: 17 mg. "tar", 1.3 mg. nicotine. 100's: 17 mg. 1.4 mg. nicotine. av. per cigarette by FTC method. Warning: The Surgeon General Has Determined

That Cigarette Smoking Is Dangerous to Your Health.

...... ;.

"' ... "

Eventually learning the rudiments of the guitar, Burnside did so on a p!H't"time·basis, as planting and harvesting cottoq..on,a plantation came frrst. "I had separated from my first wife and l was looking for something to occupy my time. I bought a clieap old guitar but I couldn't play it too good. I watched other guitar players but I couldn't get the same sound. There was an old guitar player in the Delta called Rainey Burnette who showed me a few things and I tried to work with that.

"I remarried to the wife I got now, and my brother-in-law came to stay with us because he and his wife had split up. He had a nice guitar and he could play pretty good. I got him to show me some of those chords and tunings. Some nights we'd stay up until2 AM, him showin' me what to play. That made my wife mad too because we had to be up at sun up to pick cotton.

''After awhile he got back together with his

w: FRI.,A.lJG.!J Contest for Most 0 t Sl . u rageous

eepJng Attire

24 WAVELENGTH/AUGUST 1985

wife, but he left his guitar. I was embarrassed to play it even in front of my wife. So ' the only time I would takejt oyt to p~y was when she went to visit her mother.

"There was another old fellow who played at house parties and picnics around the Delta, Son Hibbler. He played at a party one night and me and my wife rode along with him in the back of a truck. People out in the country would throw par­ties on the weekend because that was fun for us. Well, we got there and Son played for hours and hours. Finally he got tired and put the guitar down on the bed. Well I'd had a few drinks and decided I was gonna try and play too. Well I picked up his guitar and played 'When My First Wife Left Me; 'Boogie Children; and 'Hobo Blues~ Well, the people there really got behind me and that gave me a good feeling. Son came in and said 'Who's that playin' that guitar? He sounds good~ Well that

1st Prize $100

2nd Prize $75

3rd Prize 25

gave me a start. From then on I was gonna be a bluesman. ~ * · ·:t

"I started playing country supper p s and the like. Sometimes you'd play from 'Sl.llld wn to sunup for $5 and a bottle of whiskey. But that was okay, that's all I was interested in. A little bit of money and a good time. I was still working on the plantation drivin' a tract<>r during the daY.'

Burnside's life remained unchanged well into the Sixties. Although the blues had fallen into disfa1 vor nationally, the Delta remained a hotspot, and Burnside stayed busy most weekends playing for friends at picnics, ::>arties and the occasional juke joint. Burnside had no ambitions to record until a friend, Othra Turner, who led the MissisSippi Fife and Drum Band, brought roving folklorist David Evans to visit. "They came by about two or three in the evening and asked me if I wanted to play a few numbers:' he explained. "I said sure, after I'd finished work.

"George Mitchell had been down in Mississippi recording people like Fred McDowell and Roben Nighthawk at the time. Well, after I got off work he set up his recording equipment at my h<>u~ and we must have played until 3 in the morning.

"I didn't hear any more from him for a couple of years until he carne by and said 'Maybe there's something I can do with those recordings! He paid me $200 and the next thing I know my bossm311 came by with an album on Arhoolie. I'd have to say that George was the man .that brought me out of the woods. Then I started getting plenty oi calh for work~'

Burnside, whose first recQrdings appeared on Arhoolie 1042, Mississippi Delta Blues Vol. 11, presented him with other Delta contemporarie1 Rosa Lee Hill and Joe Calicott. Although the album couldn't be considered a "best seller" b) anyone's gauge, it was an interesting example of Delta Blues played in the traditional sliae guitar style and it managed to find its way t() the right places as far as R.L. was concerned. By the late S'"IXties he was being invited to blues and folk festi· vals far and wide.

"The first call I got was from Montreat:• recalh Burnside. "They wanted me to come and play Man & His World (a summer amusement park which once hosted the 1967 World's Fair). That was the first time I got to meet people like John Lee Hooker and Lightnin' Hopkins. I saw Roben Lockwood there too, but I'd been knowin' him since when he played with Sonny Boy over in He!· ena~·

By the early Seventies, Burnside had made the first of many of his numerous trips to Europe. "I wouldn't have thought people over there would like the blues;• he says. "They can't understand a word you're singing, but it seems like they go for the blues more there than they do here.

"Next time I go over in September it will be for five weeks. We'll be playing in Germany, Italy, Greece, Sweden, Holland and Yugoslavia. I've been to 18 different countries now playin' the blues!'

Over the past few years Burnside has been extensively recorded by a number of labels, including Vogue in England, Swingmaster in Hoi· land, and back home by David Evans at Highwa· ter Records. "I usually get $500 for the records plus a royaltY.' specifies Burnside. "Most of those records from Europe were cut live so we didn't even go in the studio. Some of the things I did for Highwater were with my family band. My soru play with me back in Coldwater, they can pia) rock 'n' roiLanll-disco too. I'm still trying to write a few things; but it seems- like it gets harder as I growold. · - • _. ""fhelil'm li'aclchcuiie-I fish to·make.a livin'. We catch fish in the 1lllahatchie River .and sell them door to door. But I can*t make the kind of money fishin' as I do going away to play music. But it's a hard life playin' blues, it keeps me awaj from home~· [